This time around, the hubs and I did extensive reasearch on how to have a girl. Ovulation times, sex positions and Chinese calendars were all used in the planning process. Then, TA-DA! Baby girl was born 9 months later. Hey we must've done something right!
Once I found out I was Prego, initially I was ecstatic! We were ecstatic! We knew it was a girl from the start. What was the first clue, you might ask? Morning sickness? Food aversions? No way, my readers. It was the emotional disaster of a psychotic roller coaster at a neurotic theme park. Up, down, upside-down, round and around we go. Every moment of every day. Here I was, a crazy damn ride of hormones. When I was home, nobody knew what to expect. I cried when I burned biscuits for breakfast. I laughed when I saw car accidents on the news. I stared out the window, paranoid when I heard a car door shut in the middle of the night.
Oooohhhh, dear baby Jesus...please, please, please help me be normal again! Will I be like this forever? What the HELL is wrong with me? I know I'm acting like a psychopath, but I know I can't change it. It's like an inner battle of red vs black. A small battle (like refilling the soap) turns into a fight, and the only thing left to do is cry about it.The tears released the anxiety, and I was left to feel hopeless. Hopeless because I can't change, but am strong enough to know that I should change. My brain says 'it's not a big deal, just ask for help'. But, my emotions say 'the world is ending!' I literally couldn't refill soap! Tears, tears and more tears....the only solution at this point was to get some takeout Chinese food, change into comfy sweats (you know, those ones that are so old and worn and would NEVER be worn in public), watch some Sex and the City and feed my soul
Then, it hit me like a freight train...What is my risk of Post partum depression, if I have this many emotions flowing during pregnancy? I see it as gradual increase of female hormones, times two. Then, after delivery, these hormones are gone at the drop of a hat. After euphoria of having a new baby is gone, I'm going to be left with leveling back out along with the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Add sleep deprivation to that equation. Wait a second, there has to be something we can do.
Put me in a pill, so I can swallow it
I remember hearing from Hollywood that people do all sorts if stuff with their placenta. Placentas have been turned into facial creams, planted under trees (for religious reasons), eaten, and even encapsulated. That being said, I didn't want to rub crazy hormone infected placenta all over my face. Nor plant it. Nor fire up the backyard grill and have myself for dinner.
So we decided to encapsulate it in hopes to 'wean' myself back to normal from all those whack hormones. First, we contacted Jennifer, the encapsulation specialist. She came to our house the day after we got home from the hospital. I had no idea what to expect, but she came in totally prepared. She brought her own pots, pans, a cutting board, special knives, and even her own dehydrator! After getting set up in the kitchen, I stayed close by to see what exactly was happening. First, she cut off the umbilical cord. Then, boiled the placenta for 20 minutes in water. When it was pulled out of the water, it looked like a big chunk of sirloin! It was transferred to the cutting board, and sliced into thin strips (looking like fajita meat at this point) Jennifer carefully placed the slices in the dehydrator and set it to cook for 24 hours. As soon as she was done cleaning up, she left and said she would return in 24 hours to finish the process. This was turning out to be more complicated than I thought! As 8 pm approached the next evening, Jennifer returned as promised. This time, she brought empty pill shells and a coffee bean grinder. She opened the dehydrator and placed the strips of placenta in the grinder, 3 at a time. Once grinded up, she carefully placed the powdery substance into the pill shells. Although we chose not too, the option was provided of adding other herbs to the mix (echinacea, ginseng, melatonin, etc.) the purpose is to 'maximize' the placenta, but I didn't want to ruin a good thing, if this even worked.
I took two capsules three times a day, for two weeks, and then 1 capsule three times a day for two weeks. I gradually weaned off the pills, and I felt amazing! Still tired, of course, but I felt like I had more energy when I would take them. I have a few left over, and use them on particularly trying days. Thumbs up from this customer! The wierd part for me...Jennifer turned the umbilical cord into a heart. Hmmm....thank you? I think!
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| That's my placenta?! |
What have you heard of other people trying and thought it might be something other than 'traditional' remedies?
