If you have given birth, you might have been curious about your amazing placenta – the organ that nurtured and protected your little one for nine months.
Maybe you wanted to see it; maybe you saved it and encapsulated it for postpartum support. Or maybe, you planted it beneath a tree in honor of the work it did for your family.
Placentas are amazing and deserve to be celebrated, for sure. They are beautiful and utterly fascinating, as well.
If you don’t know much about placentas, here are some fun facts
It’s shaped like a parachute!
It’s true! Your placenta is shaped like a parachute and weighs about a pound. Blood from the mother and infant pass through it but never mix.
It has several functions
Your placenta has several functions: It gives your baby nourishment and oxygen and it also filters baby’s waste. But it doesn’t belong to the mother. Genetically, it is half from mom and half from dad.
It also functions as a gland, secreting hormones during pregnancy that help support the baby AND prep the body for when baby is born. It can also pass antibodies to baby during the third trimester.
It’s disposable
Yup, that’s right. When baby is born, this amazing organ gets discarded. Basically, it’s grown to support the baby (or babies!) and then when it is done with its job, that’s it. Goodbye.
Twins might not share a placenta
This one is kind of mind-blowing if you think about it. Twins, who share the womb, might not share a placenta. Sometimes, twin moms grow more than one placenta!
It is one of the least understood organs of the human body – but it is pretty important. We all are here because of one!
Everything Birth
At Everything Birth, we find birth – and placentas – amazing!