Placenta Printing

I was at an antenatal class and we were given the option to see a placenta. Being very interested in the human body, I jumped at the chance. There was only about three of us interested in seeing it out of the whole group which is a good indication of how little people know or choose not to know about this incredible organ. There is no information offered with the option of seeing so I do feel that it should be presented in a more informed way into the sessions so at least people are more aware of there options and choices.

We went into a room and the midwife showed it us. I asked if they had been given the permission for us to look at it and I was quite shocked and felt sad that it is regarded as hospital waste and that they did not need to ask the person who it had belonged to. I could hear the baby crying in the background, the newborn cry and we were informed the placenta was fresh so to speak. It was then that I started to look into my options because I could not stand the thought of the placenta being disposed as hospital waste.

I did some research online and there are different cultural beliefs and practices that do recognise the placenta as being something more than waste. I asked the hospital if I could keep my placenta which I could, but you have to sign a form to fit in with disposal criteria and guidelines. For me that was to put it into the earth on private land.

This amazing organ grew my miracle baby and I wanted to honour that. There are lots of ways the placenta can be used post birth, there are a lot of online resources available. I knew I wanted to do something creative so I chose to do the placenta printing which is referred to as “The Tree of Life”, which made it even more special due to my affinity with trees and spirituality. To keep the memory of this amazing organ and to work with it creatively, for me was a very therapeutic experience and very healing with how emotional I felt.

I was suffering with postnatal OCD (intrusive thoughts) at this point, the emotions, tiredness and hormones was having a huge impact on me. Carrying a child for an amount of time, connecting and then birthing is the most amazing life experience I could of hoped for, but I suffered with the grief of loss in the past and the fear of that loss has been with me since, because I fear loss daily. To just let go of what sustained my baby was not enough for me. It truly was a therapeutic and emotional experience that helped me to let go of that part of my journey as a Mother, the placenta sustaining her life and keeping her with me for all those months I had to honour that.

I created this video recently while in lockdown with the Coronovirus pandemic. I have always struggled in the past to be confident in putting my story on a social platform especially this one and yet we are all born from this amazing organ. Lukily I had footage from the day we did the prints (my Mother) so I must have subconsciously planned to do a video. It’s taken some time to go over the footage and I still felt emotional putting the video together. An incredible experience.

There are lots of resources online to help guide you and many YouTube videos if you decide to explore this.

Placenta info : https://www.placentabenefits.info