Transcript: Placenta Benefits After Childbirth
Preggie Pals
Placenta Benefits After Childbirth
Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.
[00:00:00]
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Brent Keime : The placenta is an amazing organ providing nourishment to your baby throughout your pregnancy. But did you know your placenta can provide you with essential vitamins and nutrients your body needs after childbirth? But did you know that placenta provides many benefits, even after your baby is delivered? What are some different ways to prepare the placenta, and how can you maximize those benefits? I'm Brent Keime, a licensed acupuncturist, and I'm here with my wife, Airalia Keime, an intern midwife. This is Preggie Pals, episode 66.
[Theme Music/Intro]
Sunny Gault : Welcome to Preggie Pals, broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. Preggie Pals is your weekly online, on the go support group for expecting parents and those hoping to become pregnant. I'm your host, Sunny Gault. Have you joined our Preggie Pals Club? You'll get access to all of our archived episodes, special bonus content after each new show plus giveaways and discounts. You'll also get a one year free subscription to Pregnancy Magazine. Visit our website, PreggiePals.com, for more information. And thanks to all of our listeners who are checking out our episodes through our awesome Preggie Pals apps, we have two, one's available in the Apple marketplace and another one is available via Android marketplace. It's the best way in my opinion to listen to the episodes, especially if you're a mom on the go, like when you're out pushing the stroller, I've done that, or if you're waiting for your next prenatal appointment and you just need to kill some time, maybe even waiting for the elevator, whatever. It's a great opportunity, so I encourage you guys to check it out, they are absolutely free, so download them today. Also, I want to remind you guys, we have a new program that we have just launched, it's called our Virtual Panelist program, there is more information on our website. But we know so many of our listeners are located across the country, not just here in San Diego, we even have international listeners, and we want to encourage you guys to participate in our conversation, so it's almost like you're right here in the studio with us when we're recording. It allows you to participate in our conversations via Facebook and Twitter. So we'll be posting topics we're going to be talking about on our Facebook page, make sure that you like our page so you get all those updates, you can ask our experts questions, you could just share your own personal experience, and we're going to be incorporating all of your comments into our show, at least as many as we can. And the same thing with Twitter, for those of you that like to tweet everything that's going on in your life, we're on Twitter as well, make sure you follow us, and you can even follow the #PreggiePalsVP, which stands for Virtual Panelist, and as we are recording our shows live, we are going to be tweeting out what our experts are talking about, we're going to be asking you guys questions, and again, that's another great way that you can participate in our shows. So be sure to check out our website for more information on the Preggie Pals Virtual Panelists program.
[Theme Music] [Featured Segment: Ask the Experts]
[00:03:04]
Sunny Gault : Here's a question from one of our listeners, Linda writes to us on our Facebook page, and says, “I'm concerned about postpartum depression. My mother experienced extreme depression after having me, and now that I'm pregnant I'm concerned that the same thing will happen. Is depression hereditary? And what are some of the signs I should look for?”
Rosemary Mason : Hi! This is Rosemary Mason, I'm a certified postpartum doula, and Linda, since not a therapist, I can't really answer that question, it could be that she, since is aware of her mother's depression, she may experience some signs, but it's not always the case. I think the best thing is to get some help ahead time, to make sure you have support with you when the baby comes, so that if you have questions, the postpartum doula can answer them for you, or another support group. Just give yourself some rest and make sure that you're well fed and well hydrated, those are important things that all moms need to do after they've had a baby. Thank you so much, bye bye!
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[00:04:06]
Sunny Gault : The idea of eating your placenta has been making lots of headlines recently. Celebrities, as well as everyday moms like you and me, we're choosing to preserve our placentas for its amazing benefits, and here to tell us a little bit more about that, we've got a team of experts here today. Brent Keime is a licensed acupuncturist, and Airalia Keime is his wife, and she is a midwife, she is joining us here in the studio. Welcome to the show, you guys, we're so happy to have you here! I was chatting with you guys a little bit before the show, you guys have so much great information to share, and I'm really excited that our listeners are going to be able to benefit from this today, so welcome!
Brent Keime : Thanks for having us!
Airalia Keime : Thank you!
Sunny Gault : Let's talk about the placenta in general, before we talk about what we should do with it, and all the benefits and stuff, what in the world is it? Airalia, is this a topic that you want to dive into?
Airalia Keime : This would be great. I think that to keep it simplified, it would be easily said that the primary function of the placenta is fetal life support. And that's when the placenta enters the uterine wall and develops the relationship between the mother and fetus. It also has five properties that it brings to the table, which is respiratory, nutritional, an endocrinal hormonal exchange, as well as an excretory property, so that's exactly how the placenta works.
Sunny Gault : So it is essential, it's considered an organ, is that correct?
Airalia Keime : Yes.
Sunny Gault : And then what are some of the – I'm going to dive right into this – the benefits of taking that organ after childbirth? What are some of the benefits of being able to use this for mother's postpartum, and Brent, that might be more of a question for you.
Brent Keime : I think that probably the two biggest benefits are: 1) to support lactation – that's in traditional medicine, they used it for that purpose for thousands of years.
Sunny Gault : So it brings it in faster?
Brent Keime : It brings it in faster, you know, moms who are having trouble, who have had lactation trouble, just providing enough milk, it's definitely beneficial in that area. The other part that we see a lot of benefits for is for the baby blues, the postpartum depression. To try to stave that off and keep that away. We see a lot of moms who at first pregnancy, second pregnancy, did not do this, had terrible depression. Then they reach a third pregnancy, later pregnancy, and then they do do this, and they notice a huge difference. Other benefits of it, it's rich in iron, so it helps anemia, due to any sort of hemophagy or blood loss during labor, some of the big ones.
Sunny Gault : I actually did this with my last son, I did not do this with my first baby, my first son, my second son I did, because I was more part of the San Diego Birth Community and I started hearing about all these benefits of it. And you hear the explanation of we're the only mammals that don't consume our placentas, you do hear that a lot, but then I also know the other side of the argument is, “well, there is a lot of things animals do that I don't want to do”, so I really want to break this down a little bit, is there scientific data out there to show that it does what we say it does? A lot of people say that it is a placebo thing. In my opinion, even if it is a placebo, I'm still feeling better! Do I care why I feel better? No. So for me as a mom, it's not a big deal either/or, but for the people out there that really want some sort of data, do we have anything that we can share with them about that?
Brent Keime : I'll tell you, if they're looking for gold standard of the double blind scientific research, there has not been any. I don't know if there will be any, there are people who are encouraging it, some of the studies that are out there are more anecdotal, there is a UNLV Anthropology survey that they did, where they talked to over 180 mothers who had done this practice, and of them, not one of them thought that they didn't get any benefits from it, or had any negative effect out of it. Most of them either said that they had a good experience with it, or a great experience with it, and a lot of them who reported having a great experience, were because previous pregnancies, when they did not do this practice, it was so very different for them. So much more beneficial this time around. Being from the world of traditional Chinese medicine, being an acupuncturist, I put a lot of stock in over a thousand years of empirical data, of empirical evidence of one generation doing this and saying that it works, and the next generation doing this and saying it works, and it's sticking through that many generations, for over a thousand years, that carries a lot of weight for me, I know that if you are a hardcore research person, if it doesn't have that double blind, then it does not have the seal of approval, as far as research goes. You really have to make that decision, is it going to be right for you, is it something that you want to try? And you have to go from there, because if you're looking for that clear research, you're probably not going to find it. Not currently, anyways.
Sunny Gault : You mentioned the risks a little bit, are there any real risks to this? And I know, and we'll get into this a little bit later, but people prepare it differently, they add different herbs all that kind of stuff, so maybe there would be some risks as to what you're adding to it. But overall, do you have any advice or any thoughts on it? If someone comes to you and says, is there a risk to doing those? I hear there can be a lot of benefits, but are there any risks?
Brent Keime : Risks might be if – I'll say some different areas here – if the mom's a smoker, it's been shown that the placenta will extract a lot of heavy metals from that, so I don't know that I would recommend it if someone has been a relatively sturdy smoker, I don't know that I would say. But I don't think a lot of smoker are going to go for this, for a placenta encapsulation, if that's a lifestyle choice.
Sunny Gault : Or even smoking during their pregnancy, that's different too than being a smoker.
Brent Keime : Exactly, absolutely. That would be about the only time that I would say absolutely no, don't do it. As far of the risks go, the biggest worries that I think most people would have would be some sort of a pathogen, but this placenta encapsulation is the mother eating her own placenta, so anything that's in the placenta was already in, with the mother in the first place, so there is no cross-contamination that's going on there. That really makes the risks very low. And if it's properly prepared, the other risk might be just in the fact that it's being prepared for consumption, so it's the same risk that you might have preparing a stake for dinner, or a piece of chicken. If it's not handled properly, if it's not refrigerated properly, if it's not taken care of during that process, then you may have a problem. But that's really the only risk, so through proper preparation, there should be no risk.
Sunny Gault : And obviously, finding someone that's qualified to do this too, it goes back to making sure that you're not asking someone off the street to fry up your placenta, right?
Brent Keime : Exactly. There are videos of how to do it all over Youtube. Anybody could learn how to do it. But yeah, you are 100% correct.
Sunny Gault : So let's talk about the different ways to prepare it, the focus of what we're going to talk about today is more on encapsulation process, but I do want to acknowledge that there are other ways to consume your placenta than just preparing it, so what would you guys say to that?
Brent Keime : If you want to get out there on the Internet, you can find all sorts of placenta recipes, placenta smoothie, pates made out of it, sote it up with onions and garlic.
Sunny Gault : I'm thinking like Hannibal Lector stuff right now, seriously.
Brent Keime : Yeah, I can understand that, some cultures who have rituals or ceremonies that are placed around the preparation of it, there are certain preparations that they want to use, certain – depending on if it's a boy or a girl, that may determine who in the family gets to eat the placenta, 'cause it may not only be the mother that eats the placenta.
Sunny Gault : Who else would eat the placenta?
Brent Keime : Family members.
Sunny Gault : Just as a ritual?
Brent Keime : Yeah, it's more of a ritual.
Airalia Keime : Or a ceremonial. I think “eating” is such a strong word, I like the word “ingesting”.
Sunny Gault : Well, it's not like you're sitting down on a placenta plate, it may be like a little piece...
Brent Keime : Yeah, it's not the main course, it's not quite like that. You won't see it on a fast-food restaurant.
Sunny Gault : No, you won't. Do you think that... do you prefer one method over the other? For example, if a client came to you guys and said, “Well, I do want to have some stuff that's encapsulated, but I would really like to have some stuff immediately, that I mix in a smoothie or that I cook up in some other way”. Is there any advice that you give them? Do you prefer one over the other? Anything like that?
Brent Keime : I think encapsulation, the benefit of encapsulation is that the medicine is going to last over a long period of time. Whereas if you're dealing with fresh placenta, then you would have to eat it immediately, right away, otherwise, like I said earlier, any piece of meat that you have, it will spoil if it's not treated properly. That would be the benefit of encapsulating it. As far as someone wanting to eat it right away, I'm not generally at the birth, so I'm not going to help you with that.
Sunny Gault : Airalia, do you have any thoughts on that?
Airalia Keime : I think it's very beneficial, I have seen is used and I do think that if a mother chooses to have some immediately postpartum, there is a great benefit to that, even putting a small piece aside, refrigerated and having maybe the next 72 hours in a smoothie, and then taking the other half and having it prepared, and then encapsulated, these are all moving toward the benefits of getting your placenta therapy on board. And I guess probably why we see encapsulation more so, is that is the concept most people came in here to, I think most people are very comfortable with, “Oh, you take this, encapsulate it, and I'll consume it, and I'll have the benefits from it”, and occasionally get a few pick and chooses there, and choices, and things like that, and I think all of them have their place. I think that the majority just goes straight for the pills on board a lot easier. We have to do something as much as tinctures, so there is the latter part that you can carry that through. I also do syrups, in the event of a really emergency situation.
Sunny Gault : Syrups... so you can actually...
Airalia Keime : Yes, taking the placenta and infusing it into - actually, it's totally preparatory measures, like standard, but taking the powder itself and making it into – I'm also an herbalist – so making it into an elixir or syrup type, so that you can get it a lot faster.
Sunny Gault : Would you take it with like a teaspoon? Or would you...
Airalia Keime : Yeah, like a teaspoon, and it would just be short, it would only be a small amount, it would be for you while that is being onset, maybe the first 72 hours, so if you've lost a lot of blood, or you had a lot of trouble during pregnancy, you sustained your pregnancy but it wasn't maybe the most optimal, and it can wipe out a lot of your qi, your body's life forces and energy, and that's a measure that can be used as an option, that can be put on board while the rest are being prepared at the capsules. And what's great working with Brent is that I can say, “Look, here is a situation that I have for this type of outcome of birth, what would you suggest?”, and it's like, “Oh, a lot more capsules in it”, versus like, “Oh, that's pretty standard birth, we went across the board, pretty textbook, keeps with a pretty decent dosage”.
Brent Keime : Encapsulation does a lot of modifications, small modifications. A little bit added, a little bit taken away. That kind of thing. Which is beneficial rather than taking it in a smoothie. The tincture that she was talking about is a good way – again, tinctures can be stored for a long period of time, so...
Sunny Gault : What is it?
Brent Keime : A tincture is when you take an herb or a medicinal and you soak it in alcohol base for a period of time, generally 30 days or something like that. The properties of the alcohol will pull the medicinal properties out and sort of mix it in like that, so it's like if you go to sprouts or something like that, they will be in a little tincture bottles. So it's another way to store the medicine over a long period of time. That's another benefit. Whereas the syrup that she was talking about, there are sugars involved, so you got to take care, it's a little less stable. And again, that's another benefit of the encapsulation, it's a very stable form that can last over a long period of time. So that medicine can be spread out for you.
Sunny Gault : When I determined I wanted to have this done with my last son, we knew this was a planned caesarean, unfortunately, from some complications I had with my first born, my vaginal birth, so we knew it was going to be a caesarean, and the person preparing my placenta said, “It might be beneficial if we just took a little bit so you just had a couple pieces, to consume raw”, or I guess if I wanted to put it in a smoothie or something I could do that, in addition to taking the rest and making it into an encapsulation format, and I asked why that would be beneficial, and she was talking about the fact that when you have caesarean, it's a surgery, it's a procedure, and it's a way to immediately get those things within your body. Would you guys agree with that?
Brent Keime : Absolutely.
Sunny Gault : So you can combine it like that?
Brent Keime : There are lots of ways to do this. The encapsulation - using encapsulation may not be the most traditional method. But the process of getting it to that point, which we'll go over in a bit, but getting it to the point where it's able to be powdered, in that form is how it's been used for well over a thousand years.
Sunny Gault : That's great, we're going to take a quick break, when we come back, we're going to talk about the actual process of encapsulating your placenta, what's involved, how is it prepared, we're going to talk more with Brent about the different types of herbs that are used. So we'll be right back.
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[00:18:42]
Sunny Gault : Welcome back, today we're learning about the benefits of consuming your placenta, and Brent and Airalia Keime are here in the studio, joining us today, they do this on a regular basis. I want to know more about the process, and how this is typically done. Airalia, let's start with you, walk us through these steps, we've just given birth, how do you get the placenta, what do you do with it?
Airalia Keime : I either have the placenta with me a lot of times, because I am a home birth midwife, so a lot of times I can take the placenta with me. If not, and I am outsourced through the counties, then a lot of times – depending on where they're coming from, hospital, birth center, the placenta is then delivered to me, and then from there I would prepare it, and sometimes hospital stays are about anywhere from 48 hours to maybe 72, on some occasions. So I have received it frozen.
Sunny Gault : Is that bad, if it's frozen? You mean refrigerated or frozen?
Airalia Keime : There is both, there is frozen and refrigerated, and it depends on, honestly, I think I've done this long enough now that I can almost anticipate what hospital will have it frozen and which will have it refrigerated.
Sunny Gault :As a patient, can you dictate that a little bit? Can you say, 'cause I would imagine that it would be better if it were refrigerated as opposed to frozen?
Airalia Keime : I would honestly think that it had to do with hospital policy. It seems to be kind of standard. I mean, that could be something I start to ask people, maybe you can request that, but I think that it's just kind of their possible procedure, to have it either frozen or refrigerated. So that maybe takes another 24 hours to the process, to allow it to have it thaw. Once I receive it, then I have Brent or myself start a phone conversation, and if I was at the birth, then I have a definite idea. Get a little bit more about the background of the birth itself, what happens, and then I begin to prepare it.
Sunny Gault : Why is it important to know how the placenta got to where it is today? Why is that important for you guys?
Airalia Keime : It's important because of its preparation. There is a standard way to prepare these, but there is a certain importance that comes during the infusion process.
Brent Keime : Choice of herbs.
Airalia Keime : Yeah.
Brent Keime : That's really what it comes down to. What are we going to add to this to make it most beneficial and most specific, to this individual mother?
Sunny Gault :'Cause it's very customized, what you guys do.
Brent Keime : That's what we do, yeah.
Airalia Keime : And so when I get the placenta, then I kind of have to go, and knowing how I'm going to prepare it it's not a particularly hard procedure, but it is taking a lot of focus and reverence, and centering yourself on preparing a placenta. First thing that I would do is, if I was preparing it right now, I would inspect it, I would keep my notes, finding out everything I need to do, I kind of keep a note on each placenta, just to see if I notice things as I see placentas down the line. I would make a placenta print, that we do to keep safe for the parents, and then I would remove the cord, and the two of those things would come together, but they would be washed, and then from the cord side, where it's been removed I would milk the veins, to expel the excess blood, as chinese medicine would have you do. And from there, it's minced and massaged very gently with warm water. It can take anywhere from eight to ten minutes to almost alleviate it from the blood source, we want to get rid of as much as we can. From there, it's placed in a steaming basket and the water is where I would place the herbs, and the different components that we use for infusing. That process, depending on the size of the placenta, takes about 20 minutes, and it lends itself to seeing when it's finished. And then, when it's done, I take it out and it's sliced nice and thin, and then I also keep the amniotic chorion membranes intact when I steem the entire placenta.
Sunny Gault : Why is that important?
Airalia Keime : That I believe is important because that is part of the placenta, it's the casing that goes around it, it almost, as you steem it, it seals it almost, it almost encapsulates itself. And so when I remove that, I set it on the drying rack, to dry as well. Then I use it into a professionally ordered dehydrater. What I can actually do on that type of dehydrater is set the variable of how many degrees, so if it's rather small, and it doesn't have to be something very aggressive in dehydrating it, they have the ability to kind of have that reverence. If the birth was a particularly difficult one, I like to dry them a little smaller, so that makes it able to customize it that way. And then it gets pulverized, and then encapsulated. The powder becomes the medicinal property, and then you can use it for different tinctures, that's basically how it's prepared.
Sunny Gault : How long does that typically take?
Airalia Keime : It's about 24 hours. With the give and take of getting it, receiving it, if it's frozen. And it dries for several hours. And I like to also keep with the Chinese medicine philosophy that I prepare all placentas in the evening time, that's because the placentas came from a very dark and very quiet type of setting, so I feel like its the quieter time, it's called the yin portion. So overnight it dries, and by the AM it's usually encapsulated, in the very first hours of the morning, before the sun comes out. And then we deliver them, so we just get all that information ahead of time. And then we bring the products to the families.
Sunny Gault : So let's back it up just a little bit, Brent, I would like to have your take on this. First of all, when are the herbs added?
Brent Keime : Herbs are generally added during the steaming process. And that can be, depending on how you want to do it, it can be done in different manners. You can soak the herbs in the water that you are going to steam up into the placenta, and then let them soak for a little while before you cook. And it will start to break them down, pull the medicinal properties out of them, and then as the steam rises it infuses itself into the placenta. You can take the herbs and make a decoction out of it, which is like a really strong tea, you take the herbs and really boil them and take that decocted liquid and use that for steaming as well, you can do it that way. But that's generally when we bring it together. In China, the way that they use the placenta is more a prepared standalone medicinal by itself, and then it will be added. At that point in time, if you were going to do it that way, than the herbs would be added more at the point where things are powdered. Either way, it can get you a good mix. But we prefer to sort of infuse it all during that cooking process. And then, as it dries, still infusing and cooking in there. That's the reason that we do it the way that we do it.
Sunny Gault : I know that the manner in which you guys do it, you guys like to know the background, you like to know how the pregnancy went, how the labor and delivery went. You mentioned that that helps you decide what herbs to put in? Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
Brent Keime : Yeah. Absolutely. Chinese medicine has a long history of creating herbal formulas that are specific for an individual. And that is done not just by picking what herb is best for them, it's a combination of herbs that really create that balance and see all the little areas that need improvement for this individual. Some different things that can happen – we have particular herbs Angelica for example, that help to stimulate the body's ability to produce blood. If I've had a mom who's had a severe hemorrhage during pregnancy, during the labor and delivery, that would be a good time to add those herbs. Because we really want to replenish what was lost during that period. Chinese medicine talks about qi, this life force, which is basically energy, signs that things have been damaged as far as qi go, for an individual would be maybe some spontaneous sweating for them, exhaustion, where they just not seem to be able to beat it at all, difficulty breathing, wheezing, labored breathing – these would be signs that I have a qi deficient mother, so then there would be certain herbs like Astragalus, Codonopsis, that I might want to add into that placenta, to really specialize it for what that individual mother needs. We try to never do a one size fits all. We really want to know, and sometimes that information can come from the mother, sometimes it comes from the care provider, because they've seen the mother the entire way through pregnancy, they've been there at labor and delivery, they've known exactly what happened. But if there is a... sometimes we still don't get good information, people just don't know what to say or that sort of thing. If I can see them face to face, there are certain diagnostic methods that we use in Chinese medicine, looking at the tongue, taking the pulse, asking a few other questions, that can lead me down the right road as far as what's going on with that mom, and sometimes that's what it comes to. For us to be able to look at that information. But we do like to make things very specific, instead of that one size fits all, as far as placenta encapsulation goes.
Sunny Gault : So would you prefer to – in a perfect world, and I know this doesn't happen a lot – but if you knew the pregnant woman in advance and you knew that you guys would be preparing her placenta, would you like to meet with her during pregnancy, to kind of get a feel for her pregnancy?
Brent Keime : All of it!
Sunny Gault : Even through labor and delivery, you'd be there too!
Brent Keime : The perfect clients for us are the ones that I've been treating with acupuncture through their pregnancy.
Sunny Gault : And then she delivers the baby!
Brent Keime : She has been delivering the baby and seeing them for postpartum care, 'cause we really have it nailed down at that point in time. There are no problems, that always works for us. That's the perfect storm for placenta encapsulation.
Sunny Gault : How quickly do you feel the effects of this, and it may have something to do with are you consuming it raw, or in encapsulation form. And then let's talk a little bit more about the dosage. So, Airalia, do you want to touch on that a little bit?
Airalia Keime : I think the effects being felt are pretty immediate. Within at least 48 to 72 hours, especially in mothers that I know had it prior, during subsequent pregnancies, have opted to do it. I keep it pretty standard as far as – if it's a typical straightforward birth, then it's usually six pills in a day, that would be the easiest way to remember for new moms, new families, is three in the morning and three at night. So three at sun up, and three at sun down. And we want you to consume that until they are finished, which roughly, depending on the size of your placenta, and how many pills you get, you're usually finished in about a month.
Brent Keime : Adjustments are made to the dosage sometimes.
Sunny Gault : One of the questions our listeners may be asking is how much does something like this cost? In general terms, and I understand your procedure is a little bit different. But what can you expect to pay to have your placenta encapsulated?
Brent Keime : Most encapsulators out there are somewhere between $250 and $300. That's fairly standard.
Airalia Keime : And we don't charge extra for the prints or we preserve the umbilical cord as well, which is a keep sake, which is very spiritual and very beautiful, it's the tie between the mother and baby. I learned a lot about the cord, so that is prepared as well as whether you choose capsules, which we also have, gelatine capsules, flavored if people are a little adverse to this whole thing, and tincture form, we charge nothing extra for those, and your herbs are included. The only time that there may be an additional charge would be if we were delivering to very long delivery.
Sunny Gault : What about twins, since I'm pregnant with twins, do you charge more? It's only one placenta!
Airalia Keime : It's one placenta, that's exactly right.
Sunny Gault : I got a deal!
Airalia Keime : Yes, it's pretty much that. And if there was any cost where I felt that it would be extra, it would just be delivery. We really want families to have this, and the idea is to keep it as very simple as possible. And I'd like to... if you find us late in care or are refered late, and we've had people – I'm a couple of days from my due date, I'll get as much information as I can, for this, I don't want people to think that if you haven't seen us on the early stages have the preconception that this wouldn't be for you and that we couldn't offer you these services.
Brent Keime : There's a lot of information we can get just by asking certain questions, it will give us a good idea as far as what's going on.
Airalia Keime : Exactly.
Sunny Gault : Well, Brent and Airalia, thank you so much for being part of our show today!
Airalia Keime : Absolutely, thank you!
Sunny Gault : This has been very fun. So our conversation is actually going to continue for members of our Preggie Pals Club. After the show, our experts are going to give some advice for those of you out there who may want to try to prepare your own placenta. So we'll learn a little bit more about that. If you want more information on our club, visit PreggiePals.com.
[Theme Music] [Featured Segments: 5 Minute Birth Stories]
[00:32:45]
Sunny Gault : We have a brand new segment here on Preggie Pals! It is called “5 Minute Birth Stories” and that's exactly what it is. We're asking our listeners to call our voicemail, which is 619-866-4775, and share your birth story in five minutes or less.
Laurie Babb : Hi! My name is Laurie Babb, from San Diego, I have two birth stories, one for my first one, who was born when I was at about 36, and my second one, who was born a few years later. But probably the most interesting thing I can offer is the first one. It took very long, like 22 hours from start to finish, so it was really long and painful and it wasn't at all a natural birth that I planned and prepared for, it turned out to be like everything almost but that, with an epidural and, oh, gush! Forceps and all the stuff. And then, I was determined, with my next one, to have a much more natural experience. And the second one I actually had a home birth. It took lots of courage and preparation, and I knew I had to be brave, because my husband certainly, after our first experience, wasn't trusting, and so I did have actually quite a successful home birth with my second child. And that labor was actually only almost seven hours, which was quite a contrast. 15 hours less. I think I have some pretty good perspective on both situations, because I did that, and also I can offer some encouragement to people who maybe did have had not such a great first birth experience, but want to try home birth second time. It's possible. Bye!
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Sunny Gault : For all of our listeners out there, your story could be next. All you have to do is call our voicemail, no one is going to pick up, it's just a voicemail, you have five minutes to leave your birth story. Again, that number is 619-866-4775. Alright, that wraps up today's show, we appreciate you listening to Preggie Pals. Don't forget to check out our sister shows, Parent Savers, for parents with newborns, infants and toddlers, and our show The Boob Group, for moms who breastfeed their babies. Next week, we're talking about our due dates – is it really that important to know your due date and to have your baby on your due date? Or near your due date? What's the deal with that? So we'll explore that a little bit more next week. This is Preggie Pals, your pregnancy, your way!
[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.
[00:36:14]
[End Of Audio]
Episode Transcript
Preggie Pals
Placenta Benefits After Childbirth
Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.
[00:00:00]
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Brent Keime : The placenta is an amazing organ providing nourishment to your baby throughout your pregnancy. But did you know your placenta can provide you with essential vitamins and nutrients your body needs after childbirth? But did you know that placenta provides many benefits, even after your baby is delivered? What are some different ways to prepare the placenta, and how can you maximize those benefits? I'm Brent Keime, a licensed acupuncturist, and I'm here with my wife, Airalia Keime, an intern midwife. This is Preggie Pals, episode 66.
[Theme Music/Intro]
Sunny Gault : Welcome to Preggie Pals, broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. Preggie Pals is your weekly online, on the go support group for expecting parents and those hoping to become pregnant. I'm your host, Sunny Gault. Have you joined our Preggie Pals Club? You'll get access to all of our archived episodes, special bonus content after each new show plus giveaways and discounts. You'll also get a one year free subscription to Pregnancy Magazine. Visit our website, PreggiePals.com, for more information. And thanks to all of our listeners who are checking out our episodes through our awesome Preggie Pals apps, we have two, one's available in the Apple marketplace and another one is available via Android marketplace. It's the best way in my opinion to listen to the episodes, especially if you're a mom on the go, like when you're out pushing the stroller, I've done that, or if you're waiting for your next prenatal appointment and you just need to kill some time, maybe even waiting for the elevator, whatever. It's a great opportunity, so I encourage you guys to check it out, they are absolutely free, so download them today. Also, I want to remind you guys, we have a new program that we have just launched, it's called our Virtual Panelist program, there is more information on our website. But we know so many of our listeners are located across the country, not just here in San Diego, we even have international listeners, and we want to encourage you guys to participate in our conversation, so it's almost like you're right here in the studio with us when we're recording. It allows you to participate in our conversations via Facebook and Twitter. So we'll be posting topics we're going to be talking about on our Facebook page, make sure that you like our page so you get all those updates, you can ask our experts questions, you could just share your own personal experience, and we're going to be incorporating all of your comments into our show, at least as many as we can. And the same thing with Twitter, for those of you that like to tweet everything that's going on in your life, we're on Twitter as well, make sure you follow us, and you can even follow the #PreggiePalsVP, which stands for Virtual Panelist, and as we are recording our shows live, we are going to be tweeting out what our experts are talking about, we're going to be asking you guys questions, and again, that's another great way that you can participate in our shows. So be sure to check out our website for more information on the Preggie Pals Virtual Panelists program.
[Theme Music] [Featured Segment: Ask the Experts]
[00:03:04]
Sunny Gault : Here's a question from one of our listeners, Linda writes to us on our Facebook page, and says, “I'm concerned about postpartum depression. My mother experienced extreme depression after having me, and now that I'm pregnant I'm concerned that the same thing will happen. Is depression hereditary? And what are some of the signs I should look for?”
Rosemary Mason : Hi! This is Rosemary Mason, I'm a certified postpartum doula, and Linda, since not a therapist, I can't really answer that question, it could be that she, since is aware of her mother's depression, she may experience some signs, but it's not always the case. I think the best thing is to get some help ahead time, to make sure you have support with you when the baby comes, so that if you have questions, the postpartum doula can answer them for you, or another support group. Just give yourself some rest and make sure that you're well fed and well hydrated, those are important things that all moms need to do after they've had a baby. Thank you so much, bye bye!
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[00:04:06]
Sunny Gault : The idea of eating your placenta has been making lots of headlines recently. Celebrities, as well as everyday moms like you and me, we're choosing to preserve our placentas for its amazing benefits, and here to tell us a little bit more about that, we've got a team of experts here today. Brent Keime is a licensed acupuncturist, and Airalia Keime is his wife, and she is a midwife, she is joining us here in the studio. Welcome to the show, you guys, we're so happy to have you here! I was chatting with you guys a little bit before the show, you guys have so much great information to share, and I'm really excited that our listeners are going to be able to benefit from this today, so welcome!
Brent Keime : Thanks for having us!
Airalia Keime : Thank you!
Sunny Gault : Let's talk about the placenta in general, before we talk about what we should do with it, and all the benefits and stuff, what in the world is it? Airalia, is this a topic that you want to dive into?
Airalia Keime : This would be great. I think that to keep it simplified, it would be easily said that the primary function of the placenta is fetal life support. And that's when the placenta enters the uterine wall and develops the relationship between the mother and fetus. It also has five properties that it brings to the table, which is respiratory, nutritional, an endocrinal hormonal exchange, as well as an excretory property, so that's exactly how the placenta works.
Sunny Gault : So it is essential, it's considered an organ, is that correct?
Airalia Keime : Yes.
Sunny Gault : And then what are some of the – I'm going to dive right into this – the benefits of taking that organ after childbirth? What are some of the benefits of being able to use this for mother's postpartum, and Brent, that might be more of a question for you.
Brent Keime : I think that probably the two biggest benefits are: 1) to support lactation – that's in traditional medicine, they used it for that purpose for thousands of years.
Sunny Gault : So it brings it in faster?
Brent Keime : It brings it in faster, you know, moms who are having trouble, who have had lactation trouble, just providing enough milk, it's definitely beneficial in that area. The other part that we see a lot of benefits for is for the baby blues, the postpartum depression. To try to stave that off and keep that away. We see a lot of moms who at first pregnancy, second pregnancy, did not do this, had terrible depression. Then they reach a third pregnancy, later pregnancy, and then they do do this, and they notice a huge difference. Other benefits of it, it's rich in iron, so it helps anemia, due to any sort of hemophagy or blood loss during labor, some of the big ones.
Sunny Gault : I actually did this with my last son, I did not do this with my first baby, my first son, my second son I did, because I was more part of the San Diego Birth Community and I started hearing about all these benefits of it. And you hear the explanation of we're the only mammals that don't consume our placentas, you do hear that a lot, but then I also know the other side of the argument is, “well, there is a lot of things animals do that I don't want to do”, so I really want to break this down a little bit, is there scientific data out there to show that it does what we say it does? A lot of people say that it is a placebo thing. In my opinion, even if it is a placebo, I'm still feeling better! Do I care why I feel better? No. So for me as a mom, it's not a big deal either/or, but for the people out there that really want some sort of data, do we have anything that we can share with them about that?
Brent Keime : I'll tell you, if they're looking for gold standard of the double blind scientific research, there has not been any. I don't know if there will be any, there are people who are encouraging it, some of the studies that are out there are more anecdotal, there is a UNLV Anthropology survey that they did, where they talked to over 180 mothers who had done this practice, and of them, not one of them thought that they didn't get any benefits from it, or had any negative effect out of it. Most of them either said that they had a good experience with it, or a great experience with it, and a lot of them who reported having a great experience, were because previous pregnancies, when they did not do this practice, it was so very different for them. So much more beneficial this time around. Being from the world of traditional Chinese medicine, being an acupuncturist, I put a lot of stock in over a thousand years of empirical data, of empirical evidence of one generation doing this and saying that it works, and the next generation doing this and saying it works, and it's sticking through that many generations, for over a thousand years, that carries a lot of weight for me, I know that if you are a hardcore research person, if it doesn't have that double blind, then it does not have the seal of approval, as far as research goes. You really have to make that decision, is it going to be right for you, is it something that you want to try? And you have to go from there, because if you're looking for that clear research, you're probably not going to find it. Not currently, anyways.
Sunny Gault : You mentioned the risks a little bit, are there any real risks to this? And I know, and we'll get into this a little bit later, but people prepare it differently, they add different herbs all that kind of stuff, so maybe there would be some risks as to what you're adding to it. But overall, do you have any advice or any thoughts on it? If someone comes to you and says, is there a risk to doing those? I hear there can be a lot of benefits, but are there any risks?
Brent Keime : Risks might be if – I'll say some different areas here – if the mom's a smoker, it's been shown that the placenta will extract a lot of heavy metals from that, so I don't know that I would recommend it if someone has been a relatively sturdy smoker, I don't know that I would say. But I don't think a lot of smoker are going to go for this, for a placenta encapsulation, if that's a lifestyle choice.
Sunny Gault : Or even smoking during their pregnancy, that's different too than being a smoker.
Brent Keime : Exactly, absolutely. That would be about the only time that I would say absolutely no, don't do it. As far of the risks go, the biggest worries that I think most people would have would be some sort of a pathogen, but this placenta encapsulation is the mother eating her own placenta, so anything that's in the placenta was already in, with the mother in the first place, so there is no cross-contamination that's going on there. That really makes the risks very low. And if it's properly prepared, the other risk might be just in the fact that it's being prepared for consumption, so it's the same risk that you might have preparing a stake for dinner, or a piece of chicken. If it's not handled properly, if it's not refrigerated properly, if it's not taken care of during that process, then you may have a problem. But that's really the only risk, so through proper preparation, there should be no risk.
Sunny Gault : And obviously, finding someone that's qualified to do this too, it goes back to making sure that you're not asking someone off the street to fry up your placenta, right?
Brent Keime : Exactly. There are videos of how to do it all over Youtube. Anybody could learn how to do it. But yeah, you are 100% correct.
Sunny Gault : So let's talk about the different ways to prepare it, the focus of what we're going to talk about today is more on encapsulation process, but I do want to acknowledge that there are other ways to consume your placenta than just preparing it, so what would you guys say to that?
Brent Keime : If you want to get out there on the Internet, you can find all sorts of placenta recipes, placenta smoothie, pates made out of it, sote it up with onions and garlic.
Sunny Gault : I'm thinking like Hannibal Lector stuff right now, seriously.
Brent Keime : Yeah, I can understand that, some cultures who have rituals or ceremonies that are placed around the preparation of it, there are certain preparations that they want to use, certain – depending on if it's a boy or a girl, that may determine who in the family gets to eat the placenta, 'cause it may not only be the mother that eats the placenta.
Sunny Gault : Who else would eat the placenta?
Brent Keime : Family members.
Sunny Gault : Just as a ritual?
Brent Keime : Yeah, it's more of a ritual.
Airalia Keime : Or a ceremonial. I think “eating” is such a strong word, I like the word “ingesting”.
Sunny Gault : Well, it's not like you're sitting down on a placenta plate, it may be like a little piece...
Brent Keime : Yeah, it's not the main course, it's not quite like that. You won't see it on a fast-food restaurant.
Sunny Gault : No, you won't. Do you think that... do you prefer one method over the other? For example, if a client came to you guys and said, “Well, I do want to have some stuff that's encapsulated, but I would really like to have some stuff immediately, that I mix in a smoothie or that I cook up in some other way”. Is there any advice that you give them? Do you prefer one over the other? Anything like that?
Brent Keime : I think encapsulation, the benefit of encapsulation is that the medicine is going to last over a long period of time. Whereas if you're dealing with fresh placenta, then you would have to eat it immediately, right away, otherwise, like I said earlier, any piece of meat that you have, it will spoil if it's not treated properly. That would be the benefit of encapsulating it. As far as someone wanting to eat it right away, I'm not generally at the birth, so I'm not going to help you with that.
Sunny Gault : Airalia, do you have any thoughts on that?
Airalia Keime : I think it's very beneficial, I have seen is used and I do think that if a mother chooses to have some immediately postpartum, there is a great benefit to that, even putting a small piece aside, refrigerated and having maybe the next 72 hours in a smoothie, and then taking the other half and having it prepared, and then encapsulated, these are all moving toward the benefits of getting your placenta therapy on board. And I guess probably why we see encapsulation more so, is that is the concept most people came in here to, I think most people are very comfortable with, “Oh, you take this, encapsulate it, and I'll consume it, and I'll have the benefits from it”, and occasionally get a few pick and chooses there, and choices, and things like that, and I think all of them have their place. I think that the majority just goes straight for the pills on board a lot easier. We have to do something as much as tinctures, so there is the latter part that you can carry that through. I also do syrups, in the event of a really emergency situation.
Sunny Gault : Syrups... so you can actually...
Airalia Keime : Yes, taking the placenta and infusing it into - actually, it's totally preparatory measures, like standard, but taking the powder itself and making it into – I'm also an herbalist – so making it into an elixir or syrup type, so that you can get it a lot faster.
Sunny Gault : Would you take it with like a teaspoon? Or would you...
Airalia Keime : Yeah, like a teaspoon, and it would just be short, it would only be a small amount, it would be for you while that is being onset, maybe the first 72 hours, so if you've lost a lot of blood, or you had a lot of trouble during pregnancy, you sustained your pregnancy but it wasn't maybe the most optimal, and it can wipe out a lot of your qi, your body's life forces and energy, and that's a measure that can be used as an option, that can be put on board while the rest are being prepared at the capsules. And what's great working with Brent is that I can say, “Look, here is a situation that I have for this type of outcome of birth, what would you suggest?”, and it's like, “Oh, a lot more capsules in it”, versus like, “Oh, that's pretty standard birth, we went across the board, pretty textbook, keeps with a pretty decent dosage”.
Brent Keime : Encapsulation does a lot of modifications, small modifications. A little bit added, a little bit taken away. That kind of thing. Which is beneficial rather than taking it in a smoothie. The tincture that she was talking about is a good way – again, tinctures can be stored for a long period of time, so...
Sunny Gault : What is it?
Brent Keime : A tincture is when you take an herb or a medicinal and you soak it in alcohol base for a period of time, generally 30 days or something like that. The properties of the alcohol will pull the medicinal properties out and sort of mix it in like that, so it's like if you go to sprouts or something like that, they will be in a little tincture bottles. So it's another way to store the medicine over a long period of time. That's another benefit. Whereas the syrup that she was talking about, there are sugars involved, so you got to take care, it's a little less stable. And again, that's another benefit of the encapsulation, it's a very stable form that can last over a long period of time. So that medicine can be spread out for you.
Sunny Gault : When I determined I wanted to have this done with my last son, we knew this was a planned caesarean, unfortunately, from some complications I had with my first born, my vaginal birth, so we knew it was going to be a caesarean, and the person preparing my placenta said, “It might be beneficial if we just took a little bit so you just had a couple pieces, to consume raw”, or I guess if I wanted to put it in a smoothie or something I could do that, in addition to taking the rest and making it into an encapsulation format, and I asked why that would be beneficial, and she was talking about the fact that when you have caesarean, it's a surgery, it's a procedure, and it's a way to immediately get those things within your body. Would you guys agree with that?
Brent Keime : Absolutely.
Sunny Gault : So you can combine it like that?
Brent Keime : There are lots of ways to do this. The encapsulation - using encapsulation may not be the most traditional method. But the process of getting it to that point, which we'll go over in a bit, but getting it to the point where it's able to be powdered, in that form is how it's been used for well over a thousand years.
Sunny Gault : That's great, we're going to take a quick break, when we come back, we're going to talk about the actual process of encapsulating your placenta, what's involved, how is it prepared, we're going to talk more with Brent about the different types of herbs that are used. So we'll be right back.
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[00:18:42]
Sunny Gault : Welcome back, today we're learning about the benefits of consuming your placenta, and Brent and Airalia Keime are here in the studio, joining us today, they do this on a regular basis. I want to know more about the process, and how this is typically done. Airalia, let's start with you, walk us through these steps, we've just given birth, how do you get the placenta, what do you do with it?
Airalia Keime : I either have the placenta with me a lot of times, because I am a home birth midwife, so a lot of times I can take the placenta with me. If not, and I am outsourced through the counties, then a lot of times – depending on where they're coming from, hospital, birth center, the placenta is then delivered to me, and then from there I would prepare it, and sometimes hospital stays are about anywhere from 48 hours to maybe 72, on some occasions. So I have received it frozen.
Sunny Gault : Is that bad, if it's frozen? You mean refrigerated or frozen?
Airalia Keime : There is both, there is frozen and refrigerated, and it depends on, honestly, I think I've done this long enough now that I can almost anticipate what hospital will have it frozen and which will have it refrigerated.
Sunny Gault :As a patient, can you dictate that a little bit? Can you say, 'cause I would imagine that it would be better if it were refrigerated as opposed to frozen?
Airalia Keime : I would honestly think that it had to do with hospital policy. It seems to be kind of standard. I mean, that could be something I start to ask people, maybe you can request that, but I think that it's just kind of their possible procedure, to have it either frozen or refrigerated. So that maybe takes another 24 hours to the process, to allow it to have it thaw. Once I receive it, then I have Brent or myself start a phone conversation, and if I was at the birth, then I have a definite idea. Get a little bit more about the background of the birth itself, what happens, and then I begin to prepare it.
Sunny Gault : Why is it important to know how the placenta got to where it is today? Why is that important for you guys?
Airalia Keime : It's important because of its preparation. There is a standard way to prepare these, but there is a certain importance that comes during the infusion process.
Brent Keime : Choice of herbs.
Airalia Keime : Yeah.
Brent Keime : That's really what it comes down to. What are we going to add to this to make it most beneficial and most specific, to this individual mother?
Sunny Gault :'Cause it's very customized, what you guys do.
Brent Keime : That's what we do, yeah.
Airalia Keime : And so when I get the placenta, then I kind of have to go, and knowing how I'm going to prepare it it's not a particularly hard procedure, but it is taking a lot of focus and reverence, and centering yourself on preparing a placenta. First thing that I would do is, if I was preparing it right now, I would inspect it, I would keep my notes, finding out everything I need to do, I kind of keep a note on each placenta, just to see if I notice things as I see placentas down the line. I would make a placenta print, that we do to keep safe for the parents, and then I would remove the cord, and the two of those things would come together, but they would be washed, and then from the cord side, where it's been removed I would milk the veins, to expel the excess blood, as chinese medicine would have you do. And from there, it's minced and massaged very gently with warm water. It can take anywhere from eight to ten minutes to almost alleviate it from the blood source, we want to get rid of as much as we can. From there, it's placed in a steaming basket and the water is where I would place the herbs, and the different components that we use for infusing. That process, depending on the size of the placenta, takes about 20 minutes, and it lends itself to seeing when it's finished. And then, when it's done, I take it out and it's sliced nice and thin, and then I also keep the amniotic chorion membranes intact when I steem the entire placenta.
Sunny Gault : Why is that important?
Airalia Keime : That I believe is important because that is part of the placenta, it's the casing that goes around it, it almost, as you steem it, it seals it almost, it almost encapsulates itself. And so when I remove that, I set it on the drying rack, to dry as well. Then I use it into a professionally ordered dehydrater. What I can actually do on that type of dehydrater is set the variable of how many degrees, so if it's rather small, and it doesn't have to be something very aggressive in dehydrating it, they have the ability to kind of have that reverence. If the birth was a particularly difficult one, I like to dry them a little smaller, so that makes it able to customize it that way. And then it gets pulverized, and then encapsulated. The powder becomes the medicinal property, and then you can use it for different tinctures, that's basically how it's prepared.
Sunny Gault : How long does that typically take?
Airalia Keime : It's about 24 hours. With the give and take of getting it, receiving it, if it's frozen. And it dries for several hours. And I like to also keep with the Chinese medicine philosophy that I prepare all placentas in the evening time, that's because the placentas came from a very dark and very quiet type of setting, so I feel like its the quieter time, it's called the yin portion. So overnight it dries, and by the AM it's usually encapsulated, in the very first hours of the morning, before the sun comes out. And then we deliver them, so we just get all that information ahead of time. And then we bring the products to the families.
Sunny Gault : So let's back it up just a little bit, Brent, I would like to have your take on this. First of all, when are the herbs added?
Brent Keime : Herbs are generally added during the steaming process. And that can be, depending on how you want to do it, it can be done in different manners. You can soak the herbs in the water that you are going to steam up into the placenta, and then let them soak for a little while before you cook. And it will start to break them down, pull the medicinal properties out of them, and then as the steam rises it infuses itself into the placenta. You can take the herbs and make a decoction out of it, which is like a really strong tea, you take the herbs and really boil them and take that decocted liquid and use that for steaming as well, you can do it that way. But that's generally when we bring it together. In China, the way that they use the placenta is more a prepared standalone medicinal by itself, and then it will be added. At that point in time, if you were going to do it that way, than the herbs would be added more at the point where things are powdered. Either way, it can get you a good mix. But we prefer to sort of infuse it all during that cooking process. And then, as it dries, still infusing and cooking in there. That's the reason that we do it the way that we do it.
Sunny Gault : I know that the manner in which you guys do it, you guys like to know the background, you like to know how the pregnancy went, how the labor and delivery went. You mentioned that that helps you decide what herbs to put in? Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
Brent Keime : Yeah. Absolutely. Chinese medicine has a long history of creating herbal formulas that are specific for an individual. And that is done not just by picking what herb is best for them, it's a combination of herbs that really create that balance and see all the little areas that need improvement for this individual. Some different things that can happen – we have particular herbs Angelica for example, that help to stimulate the body's ability to produce blood. If I've had a mom who's had a severe hemorrhage during pregnancy, during the labor and delivery, that would be a good time to add those herbs. Because we really want to replenish what was lost during that period. Chinese medicine talks about qi, this life force, which is basically energy, signs that things have been damaged as far as qi go, for an individual would be maybe some spontaneous sweating for them, exhaustion, where they just not seem to be able to beat it at all, difficulty breathing, wheezing, labored breathing – these would be signs that I have a qi deficient mother, so then there would be certain herbs like Astragalus, Codonopsis, that I might want to add into that placenta, to really specialize it for what that individual mother needs. We try to never do a one size fits all. We really want to know, and sometimes that information can come from the mother, sometimes it comes from the care provider, because they've seen the mother the entire way through pregnancy, they've been there at labor and delivery, they've known exactly what happened. But if there is a... sometimes we still don't get good information, people just don't know what to say or that sort of thing. If I can see them face to face, there are certain diagnostic methods that we use in Chinese medicine, looking at the tongue, taking the pulse, asking a few other questions, that can lead me down the right road as far as what's going on with that mom, and sometimes that's what it comes to. For us to be able to look at that information. But we do like to make things very specific, instead of that one size fits all, as far as placenta encapsulation goes.
Sunny Gault : So would you prefer to – in a perfect world, and I know this doesn't happen a lot – but if you knew the pregnant woman in advance and you knew that you guys would be preparing her placenta, would you like to meet with her during pregnancy, to kind of get a feel for her pregnancy?
Brent Keime : All of it!
Sunny Gault : Even through labor and delivery, you'd be there too!
Brent Keime : The perfect clients for us are the ones that I've been treating with acupuncture through their pregnancy.
Sunny Gault : And then she delivers the baby!
Brent Keime : She has been delivering the baby and seeing them for postpartum care, 'cause we really have it nailed down at that point in time. There are no problems, that always works for us. That's the perfect storm for placenta encapsulation.
Sunny Gault : How quickly do you feel the effects of this, and it may have something to do with are you consuming it raw, or in encapsulation form. And then let's talk a little bit more about the dosage. So, Airalia, do you want to touch on that a little bit?
Airalia Keime : I think the effects being felt are pretty immediate. Within at least 48 to 72 hours, especially in mothers that I know had it prior, during subsequent pregnancies, have opted to do it. I keep it pretty standard as far as – if it's a typical straightforward birth, then it's usually six pills in a day, that would be the easiest way to remember for new moms, new families, is three in the morning and three at night. So three at sun up, and three at sun down. And we want you to consume that until they are finished, which roughly, depending on the size of your placenta, and how many pills you get, you're usually finished in about a month.
Brent Keime : Adjustments are made to the dosage sometimes.
Sunny Gault : One of the questions our listeners may be asking is how much does something like this cost? In general terms, and I understand your procedure is a little bit different. But what can you expect to pay to have your placenta encapsulated?
Brent Keime : Most encapsulators out there are somewhere between $250 and $300. That's fairly standard.
Airalia Keime : And we don't charge extra for the prints or we preserve the umbilical cord as well, which is a keep sake, which is very spiritual and very beautiful, it's the tie between the mother and baby. I learned a lot about the cord, so that is prepared as well as whether you choose capsules, which we also have, gelatine capsules, flavored if people are a little adverse to this whole thing, and tincture form, we charge nothing extra for those, and your herbs are included. The only time that there may be an additional charge would be if we were delivering to very long delivery.
Sunny Gault : What about twins, since I'm pregnant with twins, do you charge more? It's only one placenta!
Airalia Keime : It's one placenta, that's exactly right.
Sunny Gault : I got a deal!
Airalia Keime : Yes, it's pretty much that. And if there was any cost where I felt that it would be extra, it would just be delivery. We really want families to have this, and the idea is to keep it as very simple as possible. And I'd like to... if you find us late in care or are refered late, and we've had people – I'm a couple of days from my due date, I'll get as much information as I can, for this, I don't want people to think that if you haven't seen us on the early stages have the preconception that this wouldn't be for you and that we couldn't offer you these services.
Brent Keime : There's a lot of information we can get just by asking certain questions, it will give us a good idea as far as what's going on.
Airalia Keime : Exactly.
Sunny Gault : Well, Brent and Airalia, thank you so much for being part of our show today!
Airalia Keime : Absolutely, thank you!
Sunny Gault : This has been very fun. So our conversation is actually going to continue for members of our Preggie Pals Club. After the show, our experts are going to give some advice for those of you out there who may want to try to prepare your own placenta. So we'll learn a little bit more about that. If you want more information on our club, visit PreggiePals.com.
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Sunny Gault : We have a brand new segment here on Preggie Pals! It is called “5 Minute Birth Stories” and that's exactly what it is. We're asking our listeners to call our voicemail, which is 619-866-4775, and share your birth story in five minutes or less.
Laurie Babb : Hi! My name is Laurie Babb, from San Diego, I have two birth stories, one for my first one, who was born when I was at about 36, and my second one, who was born a few years later. But probably the most interesting thing I can offer is the first one. It took very long, like 22 hours from start to finish, so it was really long and painful and it wasn't at all a natural birth that I planned and prepared for, it turned out to be like everything almost but that, with an epidural and, oh, gush! Forceps and all the stuff. And then, I was determined, with my next one, to have a much more natural experience. And the second one I actually had a home birth. It took lots of courage and preparation, and I knew I had to be brave, because my husband certainly, after our first experience, wasn't trusting, and so I did have actually quite a successful home birth with my second child. And that labor was actually only almost seven hours, which was quite a contrast. 15 hours less. I think I have some pretty good perspective on both situations, because I did that, and also I can offer some encouragement to people who maybe did have had not such a great first birth experience, but want to try home birth second time. It's possible. Bye!
[Theme Music]
Sunny Gault : For all of our listeners out there, your story could be next. All you have to do is call our voicemail, no one is going to pick up, it's just a voicemail, you have five minutes to leave your birth story. Again, that number is 619-866-4775. Alright, that wraps up today's show, we appreciate you listening to Preggie Pals. Don't forget to check out our sister shows, Parent Savers, for parents with newborns, infants and toddlers, and our show The Boob Group, for moms who breastfeed their babies. Next week, we're talking about our due dates – is it really that important to know your due date and to have your baby on your due date? Or near your due date? What's the deal with that? So we'll explore that a little bit more next week. This is Preggie Pals, your pregnancy, your way!
[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.
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