What happens with the Placenta?

What happens with the placenta when baby has been born? I have heard that it gets taken away, and have tests done on it? Is this true? What do they test it for? Then what happens to it? Strange question i know!!!

Yup! Looked over then thrown away! My sister's placenta was lobbed, basketball style, from the delivery bed over to a bin against the wall - it hit the wall and slid down into the bin. Gruesome, huh?!?!

My pacenta with Olivia was inspected and it was then taken away for "viewing" becasuse it was a wierd one....all sorts of valves ont eh outside or something? Can't really remember, and it was nothing "dangerous" but my OB said it was "an unusual one"??!

LOL!! Guys, that is so disgusting. "Mince in Stocking" ROFL

Hmmm, my freind was allowed to freeze hers and take it home, where she then gave it to a fellow teacher (science) and he dissected it in class! BLERGH!

Andrew always says the big lump of beef I buy when cooking xmas dinner reminds him of placenta's rofl. (sorry if that just put anyone off beef)

My placenta with Kameron was held up in the air like the midwife was hanging her washing out and got inspected, with Lachlans they commented on how small it was and it was taken away to get inspected a bit further.

Love

*LMAO* and Ewwww at the same time about the 'mince in a stocking'. Mine was checked over too (a bit 'ragged' in midwife speak - she was a bit worried about retained product but then chalked it down to Maddy being overdue I think) and I assume it was thrown out. It looked like a big liver to me.

I have absolutely no idea what happened to mine/Zander's.

Mine all got put into what one of the midwives named the 'muncher' no idea what it did to them, but that's what they call it.

Both my kids placentas are in my freezer :) To be planted with special trees... We don't own yet so I wanted to wait until we owned a house. But I'm thinking I might just buy the trees and plant (in a pot) them. Paris will have a cherry blossom tree and Seth will have an ash tree :)

*hugs*
Cailin

At our ante-natal classes they said that its examined to see if it came away intact and if you don't want to take it home (eeew) it goes to 'Placenta Heaven' - they have a bucket labeled Placenta Heaven that gets taken to the incenerator.:)

I know my Obs held both of mine up to show me! (Don't know if I was supposed to be impressed or not!) my girlfriend who was with me took a photo of it! So I will forever have a memory of my placenta from Cooper! Don't know what happened to it after that, he checked them both out, then I assume they were thrown out!

Just let me know if you want a photo of one !!!! lol!!!!!!

Not sure what happened to Lily's but i remeber them saying is was twice the size it normal should be lol.

My ex SIL took hers home and cooked it up and ate it...ewww. I have heard that it is meant to be good for you but still. She had leftover placenta in the frezzer in an icecream container, so you had to be careful when getting dessert lol

Cailin...i love the idea of planting it under a tree, what a nice reminder.

Hi,

i didnt even get to see mine cause i was under general 4 the c/section,so dont know what happened to it.

I heard that some women actually take it home cook it and eat it!!!!! EWWWWW

sorry if i made u gag but i cant beleive you could stomach it.

with mine from Anneliese they had to take it to the lab and test it to see if the infection i has that caused the prem birth had crossed the placenta and into bub. It had. after that i suppose it was chucked out. It was yellow (along with the inside of my uterus... damn infection...)

The boys, i dont know. They showed declans to me and then took it away, With Xander i was so young and dumb (i didnt read up on labour at all...) i didnt even know you had to birth the placenta til they told me to keep pushing, and i was like "what for?"

Hi,

lol amanda81 i posted and ur post came up....so it happens here as well.....my god i could never do it,i cant even eat sheep/cow liver

ROFPML at some of your responses!! I posted this as a serious question, but, have gotten quite a good laugh out of it.

Cailin, I think that is a lovely idea, what you are doing.

Relle, I will pass with the Photo thanks LOL!

Sorry Ally I couldn't help myself , but to tell you I had it!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!

Eating it though, that is more disgusting than my photo - Ewwwwww ROFPML

with mine i was asked if i wanted to keep it (i am of maori descent) but i declined - it was used for DNA testing for the girls (to check if they were ID or fraternal) and has since gone on to be donated to help others (as the blood can be used for leukamia patients) - it's a pretty cool thing to look at - mine was big enough to fill a shopping bag lol amazing to think that something that looks so well gross sustains a human life

We inspect it to see if there are three vessels in the cord, to see that the membranes are intact and that there are two parts to it. We also look for extra lobes, how the cord is positioned, size and to see how healthy it is. We look for things like calcification (small hard white bits) haemorrage, texture eg; a placenta that is gritty as opposed to smooth. We also turn it right side in to make sure everything matches up and nothing has been left behind. Every placenta tells a story and, if the baby is sick or small or something is a little different, often the placenta will show something.

Having said that, most of the placentas are then discarded, some get taken home.
Alot of the ladies who take them home plant them with a tree, like Cailin's plans, other's eat them. i know a midwife who has a recipe for placenta pizza! Personally, couldn't do that but hey! Each to their own!

My first placenta weighed more than one of my twins! (it was actually two placentas that had merged) The midwife said it was the biggest placenta she had ever seen!

Thanks Tiggy, Very interesting info, now i know!!! BTW I will never look at pizza the same way LOL!!

Emma, Very interesting to see what different cultures do with their placentas. Thanks for that info :)

We chose a cherry blossom for paris as I love the tree, and seth an ash tree as its his celtic tree. We keep meaning to get the trees but always go to get them at the wrong season *oops*

*hugs*
Cailin

I never saw my placenta... DP says I'm lucky I didn't ROFL.
The midwives did comment on how big it was though.

Thanks so much for the information Tiff, how very interesting!

Had a tour of the delivery suite tonight and the midwives asked us if we wanted to see a placenta - I think they must have been in the process of inspecting one, gathering from previous posts - so we had a look. It was fine, I wasn't grossed out at all (and I kind of expected to think that the placenta would look a bit disgusting). So I was pleasantly surprised, I just found it interesting! Quite amazing really.