7 tips to get your placenta home A placenta minder at work!
So, you want to keep your placenta and take it home with you?
Here are some tips I give to my clients who wish to keep their placenta for encapsulation but can be used by anyone. 1. It is YOUR placenta, not the hospital's. You can keep it if you wish! 2. Put it in writing - make a note of it in your birth plan, discuss it with your care provider and have them put it in your notes. You don't have to tell them why you want to keep your placenta. 3. Remind hospital staff upon arrival and after baby is born that you want to keep your placenta. 4. Have your partner / birth support person / doula act as your Placenta Minder. Put them in charge of ensuring you get your placenta so you can concentrate on the birth and your new baby instead of worrying where your placenta is. This beautiful Placenta Minder in the picture made sure her friend's placenta was all kept even though it was manually removed in pieces. 5. If you are planning on consuming your placenta in any way, get it in the fridge or on ice as soon as possible. I recommend taking your own small cooler with you and asking the hospital for ice so that it doesn't have to leave your possession. Few hospitals will put it in their fridge for you as it is technically considered medical waste. 6. In the event that your placenta needs to go to pathology, request that only small samples are taken so that you can have the rest. If you are going to practice placentophagy, it is important that your placenta doesn't come into contact with any formaldehyde, preservatives etc 7. I haven't had any issues collecting placentas from my clients from any of the hospitals around Adelaide including private hospitals and from what I've heard most care providers have been helpful to these families in respecting their wish to keep their placenta. [2017 UPDATE - Due to new policies, some care providers will tell you that you can't have your placenta for 7 days. If you want to take it home sooner, be firm that you DO NOT CONSENT to this policy. Policies are there to guide the staff, they are not law that you have to follow] Some readers of Elemental Beginnings shared their experience with taking their placenta home from hospital on Facebook: "I took in an ice cream container, and asked in my birth plan for it to happen. My lovely midwife each time (3 babies) just wrapped it in a plastic bag and popped it in the ice cream container and into the fridge for me. Easy peasy!" - Nicole " I took my grand daughters home. The midwife wondered why i wanted it but was ok to do it. My daughter had to sign papers and it was put in a histo bucket for us." - Lee "Our midwife placed ours in a plastic bag and then in an ice cream tub we'd brought in. As far as I can remember anyway. Then it went in the fridge until we were ready to go." - Amanda "I had an unexpected cesarean and while I was being sutured and processing all that was going on around me, I finally yelled out, "my placenta!!!" The ob looked over the curtain and replied sarcastically, " what are you going to do, plant a tree with it?" I was so upset over the lack of his caring that its Me and my babies body part being "disposed" of, I simply said "exactly" He proceeded to say it was medical waste and was on its way out and I insisted they get it. My doula friend who attended me brought it in during recovery thrilled to show me it was still warm in the bag they placed it in (black garbage bag). I still have it in my freezer " - Niki Have you taken your placenta home from hospital? Please share what your experience was like in the comments.
Mel
13/7/2013 07:58:56 am
I had to transfer to hospital after my last home birth for a retained placenta. The staff at Women's & Children's were very accepting of me keeping it and even gave me a bucket to put it in. It sat in the bar fridge in my room until we went home later that night.
Rish
13/7/2013 08:25:12 am
My student midwife was my placenta minder and made sure it was kept, contained and chilled until it was picked up for encapsulation. It was fantastic not to have to concern myself over it's whereabouts or temperature.
Sarah
13/7/2013 10:15:05 am
It was hard work getting my placenta out of Cabrini hospital, my doula, husband and I had to push my lovely midwife to break hospital rules to "smuggle" mine out with my gorgeous doula, Mel
Rachel
13/7/2013 12:28:41 pm
My finance/midwife at FMC put mine in an icecream container and stored it in a cooler bag with ice until it was collected. My midwife was intrigued and very understanding!
Michelle
1/2/2022 06:13:36 am
My grandson and his wife insisted that they be given their babies
Ruth
2/3/2023 07:18:10 pm
I’m really sad to say that I was t even given any choice. As a first time mom, I was scared about giving birth and I was fairly clueless about most things. No one informed me I could take mine home, in fact, many things were done to me without so much as consent, more like “you have to do this” and that’s it. I’m mad at myself for not standing up for myself, but I was nervous and under a lot of pressure from birth/delivery/ postpartum. I think they took advantage of my weakened physical and mental drained emotional state, I wish I could have afforded a doula/midwife to help me in areas that I had no clue about.
SunShine McWane
24/5/2023 10:22:00 pm
I'm so So sorry. Unfortunately if you're a newer mom or don't know anything than yes I think some hospitals WILL take advantage of that. It's really unfair.
Taryn Rand
8/8/2023 03:42:10 pm
I appreciate the empowering and compassionate tone of this article. I live in Texas, USA, over an hour away from the nearest hospital that will accept obstetric emergencies, and there are no home birth midwives or doulas in my area. So, I’ll be having a hospital birth, and I’m nervous. I’d like to keep my placenta for various reasons, but I’m afraid that asking will result in passive aggressive retaliation or worse by staff. I’ve experienced a lot of this behavior as an autoimmune disease patient. I’m trying to decide if it’s even worth trying to take it home, and it makes me frustrated and resentful that this opportunity for agency is not afforded to me. I’m a veterinarian, and handling placenta (even witnessing placentophagy, as every other animal mother does it) does not bother me in the least. The anthropocentrism and pathologization of human birth is misogynist and short-sighted to me. It seems weird that I have to prepare for a battle to keep my and my baby’s own organ…it’s a beautiful, miraculous organ! :-) Comments are closed.
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About MeKelly Harper is the owner of Elemental Beginnings Doula & Placenta Services in Adelaide. She provides sleep consultancy, placenta encapsulation and doula services to families during pregnancy, birth and in their fourth trimester. 
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