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I've got no idea what happened to it and don't really care tbh.
I read the article and then got sidetracked by the photo's on the link below, some were beautiful but at least one woman looked worryingly corpse-like.
'She says that it is not inconvenient to carry the cord, placenta and baby around together. "We rinsed off the placenta so it was as clean as possible. We sprinkled sea salt over it - it's a chunk of meat quite like liver and has the potential to go off. We had some lavender essential oil to drip on it too in case it got smelly, but it never did. We wrapped it in a terry nappy, then wrapped the baby and the placenta up together in a sleeping bag. Every 12 hours we changed the nappy and added more salt. It worked fine." She and her partner Rae, a psychologist, are keeping the placenta in the freezer until they move house - then they will plant it beneath a tree.'
Well I nearly knocked the Midwife out with mine, after that she whipped it away quite quickly before it could manage to escape and attempt ABH on anyone else
When I was looking into VBAC I found a lotus birth site, tres bizarre, and the whole 'my baby didn't cry until her cord fell off' thing, really? NO crying for nearly 2 weeks? Uh-huh
and I think that animals eat it to gain teh nutrients, but don't quote me...
SBF it is a well known fact that wild animals sprinkle sea salt and (organic) essential oils on their placentas, then lug them about for a couple of weeks.
Personally I had my placenta deposited straight into a bucket, then medically incinerated. DS wailed the whole time this was happening, in fact he didn't stop for about 3 months Colic be damned, it was the trauma don't you know?
I have no idea what happened to either of them. tbh, both times, I had just pushed a 10 and a half pound baby out of a very tiny (in comparison ) hole. The whereabouts and eventual fate of the placenta was rather low on my list of priorities.
We always made pate out of mine, and served it at the Christening. You'd be amazed at how many people were shocked. But then they were probably vegetarians.
I buried my last ds's in the garden under a greengage tree (which has yet to bear more than 2 fruit )
I wouldn't have wanted to eat it or have a lotus birth, but I did have a certain amount of awe and respect for this amazing organ which fed and nurtured my baby for 9 months.
But, mine was intact (left it attached to baby for a while after the birth though - as in birth plan) but after the mw had finished poking about with it it was a mess (got a demonstration and running commentary - as in birth plan)
Bit disappointed that so far I am the most treehuging here!
Oh, can I just say though, that I quite liked to look at mine (briefly) and I really have no issue with people eating them, so long as I don't have to.
your first days of life cuddled up next to a piece of rotting flesh. They already admit only mad bint parents are prepared to come within a 100 yards. Bordering on abuse I think.
I couldn't look at mine nickytwotimes. The mw called me a "lightweight", to which I replied "I just don't wanna puke again!". I do, however, think a placenta is a pretty amazing thing.
Bleugh! At people eating it! Thena gain i don't eat and organs animal or human.
Mine was taken away to be incinerated with ds1 and d2's was taken for medical science along with his cord as it was unusual. (He's in a medical book don't you know!)
I remeber seeing it after ds1 was born on the little table on wheels and i said to dp, 'don't look behind you' (hes squeamish) so the first thing he does is look behind him strieght at the placenta in a metal bowl and he went very white.
I didn't really make a hocolate cake with mine btw it was an off the cuff comment athat nobody has reffered to and I don't want you all thinking that it may have been true!
Ledodgy i think you're trying to cover your tracks. Clearly a chocolate cake was made and I suspect the other ingredients were gathered a la baldrick making coffee in blackadder goes forth!
I don't know what happened to mine, but I was teaching right before ds1 was born and one of my students offer to buy my placenta so she could fry it up.
I will not be eating mine. Or planting it. What happens if I move house? would you point out to the new owners that the tree was growing on a rotting piece of you.....
Very strange. Seems another way of making women feel they should bond instantly in a mother earth type way. I have heard benefits to leaving it attached for a while after birth but possibly 2 weeks? yuck!
I took mine home and kept it in the freezer until I had decided what to do with it. A good friend had had her daughter three weeks after I had DS and she did the same thing. All six of us went out when the babies were a few weeks old and buried the placentas together in a grove of oak trees. They may have been dug up and eaten by foxes but hey, so what?
I asked to see mine both times. After DD1s birth I recall a bizarre conversation, as I was being stitched up, where DP and the midwife discussed putting it in a flowerpot and growing something on top of it. As far as I remember DP was trying to make a present of it to the midwife. He must have been a bit high, to her credit she was very polite and nice about it!
Had a homebirth and the MWs took it away - but only after DH & I had had a good gawp. F'kin enormous it was.
Although I did hear the MWs muttering to each other 'are you sure they don't want the placenta...', we were firmly pigeon-holed as 'alternative' types <rolls eyes>
had a really good look at DS1 as they told me at the hospital that it was showing signs of calcifying? but there was no sign of that at all once it was out. Midwife took it with her when she left.
DS2 - didn't pay much attention but the midwife took it with her when she left.
We left it attached to ds for about 36 hours, until the cord was totally dry. I did have salt and lavender oil around, but it didn't smell at all. It was wrapped in one of those disposable bed liners.
Then we cut it off, dh said 'goodbye placenta and thanks for all the fish' and put it in the bin.
I liked the idea of planting it under a tree, but I didn't fancy going out in late december to do it.
I also felt it would be rather depressing if the tree then died, and given my less than stellar record with trees I'd rather not risk it.
The auxiliary nurse who was clearing up the surgical "mess" in the delivery suite after I had DD managed to drop the silver bowl containing my placenta. It splattered everywhere! Was one of the funniest moments of childbirth
i have never had the slightest bit of interest in my placentas, and i find the idea of doing stuff with it quite bizarre. and the idea of having to care for the placenta, as if having a newborn baby isn't daunting enough, sounds mad to me. still, each to their own, not judging...
although i did rub some of the varnix in my face as according to nct teacher it's a wonderful antiwrinkle treatment- does that count??
One of my friends used to work in HIV research in Paris, a few times I was chatting to her and she said 'got to go, a placenta has just arrived'. She was investigating mother-child transfer of HIV or something.
I never worked out if the research team specifically requested placentas (plural?) or if they just took them if the mothers said 'yuck, take it away, I don't care what you do with it'.
I thought they use them for face cremes? Maybe maternity hospitals have a deal with companies. All those lovely rejuvenating hormones. Go on take your pick on the links here.
I wanted to keep mine and grow a tree on it, but with a crash section, I have no idea what happened to it. L'Oreal perhaps?
This came up here a few years ago, pretty much all the same comments then but we did mamage to find Lotus bags which are designed to carry the placenta securly whilst also looking attractive. Perhaps it will come up in a search, I will go look!
I know the woman in the article, I remember when she had her daughter and said at hour 23 of labour she was really enjoying herself and actually meant it.
The thought of carrying a hunk of decomposing meat around with my baby personally revolts me, but then I also would not support the whole 'babymoon' thing as it's REALLY important for me for DH to bond with the baby as soon as possible too.
Can't say I am convinced 
) hole. The whereabouts and eventual fate of the placenta was rather low on my list of priorities. 
