So I was studying the placenta yesterday and I just have to share with you how amazing this organ is.
First let me point out that the placenta is a foreign organ in the mother’s body. It belongs to the baby. Logically, the mother’s body should reject the placenta. But it doesn’t. Early in pregnancy the placenta anchors itself into the lining of the uterus (via protein). The lining, in turn, protects the mother’s body from making abortive cells and rejecting the placenta and baby.
The function of the placenta is to provide the baby with nutrients and nicely oxygenated blood in exchange for waste and deoxygenated blood. Here’s how it works:
Mom’s blood temporarily leaves her circulation and pools beneath the placenta. There it is projected into the placenta in tiny jets. Once inside the placenta, mom’s blood bathes the part that houses baby’s blood circulating through. Then mom’s blood reenters her circulation through uterine veins. The other half of this process is baby’s blood, which enters the placenta through arteries in the umbilical cord. Down in the placenta, baby’s blood exchanges nutrients and wastes and reenters the baby’s circulatory system through the vein in the umbilical cord.
As technical as the process may sound, the two most important things to learn from this process aren’t very technical. First, all of this happens with absolutely no effort on anyone’s part, save the being who created us. That’s right, yet another part of the birth process that works flawlessly and we have nothing to do with it. The second lesson is this, mom’s blood makes the placenta work, and her blood cannot do its job without proper nutrition! Yet another reason among the countless others why nutrition is THE most important part of pregnancy.
I simply adore the placenta. I always have, even before this. But this deeper understanding I have of such an amazing organ and process has made me adore it even more. At every birth I attend, I respect the placenta greatly. I wait respectfully for the placenta to let go of the uterine wall and birth itself. I talk to it and let it know that it has done a wonderful job and can let go of its attachment to mom. When parents ask me what should be done with the placenta, I let them know that I would prefer it not be thrown away or destroyed, and if that is their choice I ask permission to take it so that it can be buried.
I am amazed by the process, but even more amazed by the fact that it continues to amaze me even more.
As you well remember I did what isn’t too commonplace and went with the instinctual craving I was having and ate a piece of placenta. It was quite the reclaiming,lol. I opted to keep the rest and it sits in a place of honor in the freezer. After doing everything you suggested to fine tune my pregnant diet and having no swelling and such an awesome water birth, I agree 100% about good pg nutrition being important and necessary. Women are very under-informed on the benefits of protein’s importance in the placenta’s development as well. I now give anyone who asks me about why I didn’t swell or have any other problems an earful about what I’ve learned. Now I get to add placenta info to the list! Can’t wait to share this with the hubby, too!