Its been a long time since I've written on this subject. I did apologize in advance if I jumped around a bit :)
I don't know much about history. That was actually my worst subject in grade school, and in college I managed dodge it by taking Geography 101 with an "easy A" teacher (wasn't good in geography either but I got an A!). But I know there was this period in history termed "The Dark Ages." Well, that felt like my life a few years ago.
I wrote in some previous posts about my bout with postpartum depression. There was a period of a couple months where I walked through the deepest darkness I've experienced in my life. I never understood depression and those who suffered from it, until I faced it myself. It is not something you can snap yourself out of. I wanted to escape it, but I didn't know how.
I plan to blog more about it because I feel more healing and revelation is to come for me. And if anything I write can somehow reach and encourage other women, then its worth it. So I had the ppd with baby number 2. When I became pregnant the third time, I "knew" long before I took a test or was ready to believe I was pregnant. I received a lot of encouragement from the Lord and from friends & family that this time would be different. It was one of those things I had to "choose" to trust and believe because it sure didn't come natural.
At my first appointment, I sat on the bed talking to my midwife and divulged my past experience with depression in the postpartum period. "Oh, there's a way to prevent that." She says. Oh boy, I was all ears! An opportunity to experience joy in mothering a baby and not have to be on medication that takes away from who I am. I leaned in for the cure. "You can ingest your placenta." SAY WHAT?! When I was a kid, I saw one of my dogs give birth to her litter and then eat the placenta, but I had never heard of humans doing it. I didn't say that to my midwife, but I did ask her to elaborate. She handed me a brochure about placenta benefits and it explained that though some people may actually eat their cooked (or raw) placentas, I could have mine encapsulated after the birth to take in pill form. Okay, that was a little easier to swallow. But really the more I thought about it, the more I thought I didn't care if I had to throw a raw piece of it into a smoothie, I would try anything to not have to walk through the hell I did with my last baby.
And I followed through and encapsulated my placenta (well I have to give credit to my sister and husband because they actually did it), and it worked! That combined with some other factors helped me experience feeling emotionally and hormonally balanced as I mothered my new baby. I was full of energy, and felt like myself. Yes there were bad days and we had some bumps in the road with nursing, but I could sense when I was starting to go downhill and knew what to do to get myself back up. I ENJOYED my baby, for the first time in 3 times. I fell in love with him. I took joy in him. I LOVED nursing him and changing his diaper and comforting him when he was crying. I had a clear mind and didn't doubt my decisions. I felt confident in my ability to mother my kids and not overwhelmed.
Check out the Placenta Benefits website for articles on placenta encapsulation. There are so many benefits to this (even if you are not at risk for ppd), and tons of research that's been done to support it. Also if you live in Wilmington, check out www.placentaworks.com- they offer services in preparing and encapsulating your placenta for you. Also you can find them on Facebook.
