You Might Be a Crunchy Mom If...

You might be a crunchy mom if...

• When someone mentions "pockets" you assume they must be talking about cloth diapers
• You have used breast milk on scrapes, cuts or cured an eye infection with it
• You have consumed your placenta
• You don't own toilet paper and use family cloth instead
• You don't vaccinate
• You either use mama cloth or a menstrual cup
• During play dates you bring out the dried fruit or vegetables
• Your birth plan is over two pages long
• You have a half dozen baby carriers and usually have two or three on you at any given time.
• You are a plastic free household. This may apply to dishes and toys.

Earth Mamas Unite - Let's Get Back to Basics

Stayed tune for "You Might Be a Crunchy Dad If..."

How to Properly Prepare a Placenta and Turn it Into Powder

In this blog post, I will teach you how to properly prepare a placenta and turn it into powder.  You can use that powder to make a lotion (great for stretch marks, nipple cream and diaper rash cream), to encapsulate it, or to mix the powder in with some of your smoothies.  If you are not going to consume your placenta raw, making a powder is a very good option.

Preparing a placenta is very easy to do and requires not much more effort than cooking a steak.

The first thing you want to do is to thaw the placenta out thoroughly.  To get the most out of your placenta, you will want to do this process within the first two weeks of delivery.  Thawing out the placenta usually takes a good 18-24 hours in the refrigerator.

Placenta completely thawed out.

The next thing you will want to do is make your placenta art work.  Some people prefer to put the cord down, and others the cord up.  Position the cord how you want it.  This may take several sheets of paper to complete as the first batch may be too soaked in blood.  You should use watercolor paper if you have it to get the best results.

Peel off the outer bag of the placenta and cut the cord off.

You will now want to rinse the placenta really well.  Not all of the blood will drain off, which is fine, but you will want to get the most of it off.

You will now want to take some skewer sticks or toothpicks and poke the veins to drain the veins. 

Rinse well again.

It should look similar to the picture above once the blood i completely drained and rinsed off.

There is a thin layer attached to the placenta that you will want to peel off before you cut it up.

Start cutting in thin strips.  The thinner you cut the placenta, the faster it will cook.  Place on your dehydrator.

The entire process takes about 12-24 hours to completely dehydrate.  It will look similar to beef jerky when it's finished.  You will know when it is done when it breaks like a chip.  You should not be able to bend it at all.

Place it in a coffee grinder and grind the cooked placenta pieces up into powder.  You can now do what you wish with the powder.  Put a teaspoon or two into a smoothie or make a cream with it!

Why I Ate My Placenta and Why You Should Too

It is pretty amazing that a human body can grow a whole entire organ in 9 months while pregnant.  There are many benefits to eating your placenta.  While some women eat their placenta raw, others prefer to encapsulate it.  Some people make art with their placenta and others will bury their placenta in their garden on the baby's first birthday to celebrate life.  

The placenta makes sure your baby is getting enough oxygen and nutrients during your pregnancy.  After pregnancy you will delivery our placenta and you may do as you wish with it as your body does not need it anymore.  Although your body doesn't need it internally, it can be a big help to consume it for many reasons.

-Increases milk supply.  Ingesting the placenta is known to increase the milk supply in a mother's breast milk.

-Increase red blood cells.  During birth we lose a lot of blood.  Ingesting our placenta will replace what we have lost so we don't become anemic.

-Increases energy levels.  Being a new mom, you may feel fatigued and have low energy.  Consuming your placenta will increase your energy levels so you can feel like a normal person again.

-Gets rid of postpartum depression.  Many new mothers will struggle with postpartum depression after they give birth.  The placenta will help this struggle.

It's strange to me that there aren't more people who don't ingest their placenta.  We are the only mammals on earth that don't regularly ingest our placentas.  I will be posting step by step instructions on how to properly prepare a placenta if you don't plan on eating it raw.

Birth Plan

It is important to have a birth plan in place whether you are delivering at a hospital or a birthing center.  A birth plan will let your midwife or doctor know what you want in regards to delivering your bundle of joy.  This is an example of my birth plan.  Feel free to copy it and/or change it up to better suit your desires.  I am happy to report my midwife had no problems with my birth plan and followed it to a T.

No pitocin

If C-section is necessary I’d like to make sure all other options have been exhausted.  My husband is to remain with me the entire time and for him to hold the baby as soon as possible, and I’d like to breastfeed in the recovery room.

I’d like to deliver the placenta without assistance from midwife when ready.  Do not rush delivery.

I’d like to keep the placenta after removal.  Please store in bags provided.

I'd like to hold my baby skin-to-skin immediately after delivery.

I’d like for my baby to stay in the same room with me, no nursery time.

I'd like to wait until the umbilical cord stops pulsating before it's clamped and cut and I’d like my husband to cut the cord.

If my baby must be taken from me to receive medical treatment, I'd like my husband to go with him or her.

I wish to birth in different positions as I see fit.

I plan to exclusively breastfeed my baby while in the hospital.

If my baby's a boy, I do not want him to be circumcised.

Pediatrician must examine baby in my room.

No bathing

No hat

No Vitamin K

No eye ointments

No hepatitis B vaccine

NO VACCINES PERIOD

Choosing a Midwife Over a Doctor

A week ago, I had a baby.  Her name is Lenora.  We had a tough time deciding on a name, but we were finally able to.  We wanted to keep with the J's and L's and finally came to an agreement on Lenora.  She is so sweet and sleeps all day long.  

The delivery was very unexpected.  I went in last Friday for a regular check up and they wanted to induce me early because of my high blood pressure.  After weighing out the pros and cons with my midwife we decided to go along with the induction.  My appointment was at 11:30 and the whole process started at 2:00 in the afternoon.  After I got to 7 cm dilated I opted for the epidural and started pushing at about 10:00 p.m.  I had my little girl at 12:13 a.m.  

The actual birth went along really nice.  With my midwife and a nurse being the only medical staff in the room, the dimmed lights and a peanut ball I was able to birth on my side instead of the traditional way on your back.  I really wanted to stand up, but it wasn't possible with my epidural.

Deciding between a midwife and a doctor is a big decision.  There are many benefits to hiring a midwife.

-Remember they work for you, not the other way around.  Doctors seem to want to push you into doing things you may not want to do.  With a midwife they are okay with you denying any tests you don't want to do as well as going along with your birth plan.  Midwives are much more laid back than doctors.  I decided not to drink the glucola drink to check my blood sugar levels, since that alone can give you gestational diabetes.  I also refused the pap smear and pelvic exam, like I always have.  My midwife was perfectly fine with that as it can lead to infections and rupture cancer cells which can ultimately lead to cervical cancer.

-Midwives use a more natural approach.  They will first try to diagnose any issues you have and cure them with natural remedies.  After all of the natural ways have been exhausted, they will then give you a prescription if you choose to go that route.

-Midwives can deliver at home or in the hospital.  You choose the setting you want and the midwife will help deliver the baby where you want them to.

-In America only about 3% of the population uses a midwife.  That means 97% of patients use a doctor for the birth of their children.  America has the highest still birth death rate.  Many countries that uses strictly midwives have very little still births.

-C section rates are much higher with regular doctors.

-Midwives rarely induce.  Unless you have a medical issues like I did, midwives will rarely induce labor.  They believe in the mom's ability to go into labor naturally.  You wouldn't believe all the stories I have heard of doctors inducing patients early just because they are heading on vacation or want to have their baby on a certain date.  Inductions definitely increase the chances of a C-section.

Here is a picture of my baby :) I just did her newborn pictures a few days ago.  I'm anxious to post them!

It's a Girl!

We are having another little girl.  I am excited I can buy more pink.  I had an ultrasound last friday where it was determined that I am carrying a girl.  The little stinker didn't want to open her legs so it was hard to get a good view, but it was finally determined towards the end of the ultrasound and the technician said she is 99% sure.  I got a cute ultrasound picture as well.  Wasn't able to get the entire face because she was facing my spine.  It is amazing how they can do the 4d pictures now.