Little buddy

Yes I know people don’t always want to see pictures of placentas. But hey I like to share. And yes this one is mine, or should I say my daughters.

Photo courtesy of Jozi Grant Photography

Advertisement

Cord clamping

I did a lot of research on cord clamping before my daughter was born. I wanted to be as informed as possible. Most of the research was on lotus birth. I was in full agreement that why discard a part of her so quickly. This pouch of life was her buddy for 9 months. It fed her, comforted her, protected her, and gave her life.

So when she was born, we kept her tiny buddy attached. I ended up in the hospital for my birth. And this was not something that I was going to waver on. Since I had to on so many other things. My midwife had to fight for me on that one. They gave the we can’t do that speech. And we replied, we can and we are!. So needless to say we were the first people at the BC woman’s hospital to do a lotus birth. We didn’t doctor it with the herbs, it was just wrapped up in a sterile bag. And placed between her legs, and both of them were swaddled together.

I did only keep it attached for two days after her birth. It was tugging pretty good at her belly button, and making it inflamed. But the cord was so dry, I could have just cracked it off. We cut it pretty close, and by two days later the rest of it fell off. It was great that I never had to deal with the smell of rotting flesh. I remember that smell from my nieces and nephews, and was not looking forward to it. So that was another added benefit, it really does fall off quicker then having it cut right at birth. My placenta now sits in the freezer. I’m still undecided on what to do with it.

Oh I did find this neat article on waiting to cut the cord. And how it possibly prevents many health issues early on. Delayed cord clamping. If I’m ever-blessed to have another child, I will be doing a lotus birth again. I just hope more women can be informed about this and demand it.

Did you clamp right away?