The Placenta Encapsulation Experience: What You Need to Know
At Doulas of Raleigh we are proud to offer placenta encapsulation services to families in the Triangle. As more and more new moms learn about placenta encapsulation, more are adding it to their postpartum recovery plan. And while many people have heard of placenta encapsulation, we are still asked quite frequently what the entire process looks like.
So today's blog is meant to give you a better understanding of what happens when you hire a Doulas of Raleigh Postpartum Placenta Specialist to process your placenta.
To begin, once you've decided to hire us for placenta encapsulation, we meet with you to deliver your hospital transport kit and go over in detail everything you need to know to safely transport your placenta home from the hospital. At Doulas of Raleigh, we never transport placentas and we only process them in our clients' homes. This ensures the highest safety standards for our clients and guarantees their peace of mind.
Once your baby is here, give us a call and we will schedule a convenient time to come to your home and begin processing. We know life with a new baby can be hectic, so we work around your schedule. Need us to come out that day? No problem. Want to wait until after your mother-in-law has gone home? We can accommodate that! We're here to make this process as stress-free as possible for you.
On day one, we arrive at your home with all of our equipment, sanitized and ready to go.
You don't have to provide us with anything except access to your sink, a stove top burner, and an outlet to plug in our dehydrator. Before we get started, we might sit with you for a bit to ask how your birth went or answer any questions you have about breastfeeding. Because all of our Postpartum Placenta Specialists are also Postpartum Doulas, we are equipped to give you a little extra postpartum support while we are in your home.
Next, we get to work in your kitchen. Don't stress - it's our job to clean and sanitize this space, not yours. After carefully sanitizing and cleaning and preparing our work space, the placenta is brought out and cleaned under cool, running water. Following cleaning and draining, the placenta is steamed over boiling water. Next, we slice the placenta thinly and lay it out in the dehydrator to be thoroughly dried over the next 18-24 hours.
Before leaving, your kitchen is cleaned and sanitized again and put back in order.
On day two, we return at our scheduled time and finish the encapsulation process. Once again, we clean and sanitize the kitchen work-space before getting started. Then the dried placenta is ground into powder and put into vegetable-based capsules. You are left with an end-product that looks a lot like an herbal supplement. Before our time comes to an end, we sit with you and carefully go over the consumption guidelines for taking your placenta pills (we also leave you with written instructions because who can remember all that?). We also give you any postpartum doula support you need while we are there.
And once again you get a sparkling clean kitchen!
While the physical encapsulation process only takes two days, our support does not end on day two. We always follow-up with our clients in the next few days and weeks to make sure that they are having a positive experience and answer any questions they might have.
We understand that the decision to encapsulate your placenta is not made lightly. This is why at Doulas of Raleigh, from start to finish, we offer the safest and most professional experience for our clients. You can learn more about our placenta services here. Then give us a call when you're ready to talk!