02/05/2025
Our placenta is truely magical!
The placenta is the bodies only temporary organ. The placenta is a flattish disc shaped organ around the size of a dinner plate (approximately around 20cm). Its thickness is about 2.5cm and thins out towards the edges of the placenta. There are two sides to the placenta-the fetal and the maternal side. As your baby grows it also grows. The placenta begins developing shortly after implantation, with cells from the fertilized egg into the uterine lining. By 10-12 weeks, it’s well developed and takes over supporting the baby.
Your developing baby relies solely on for nutrients and oxygen. The placenta acts as the baby’s lungs to supply oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. It also acts as baby’s kidneys to filter waste products out of the bloodstream.
During the 3rd trimester, the placenta allows antibodies to pass to the baby, giving your baby a starter immune system, and this protection lasts for up to 6 months after birth. The mother’s blood flows through the placenta, exchanging oxygen, nutrients, and antibodies with the baby’s blood through the umbilical cord. The placenta also filters out waste products like carbon dioxide from the baby’s blood.
There are many options surrounding your placenta when it is birth.
You can choose to have a Lotus Birth, have the right to view your placenta and ask questions. You can choose to leave it at the hospital to discard or you can take it home. There are traditions of burying your placenta in a special or sacred place and planting a plant on top, you can also encapsulate and consume it.
The placenta is often referred to as the “tree of life” due to the visible branching blood vessels on the fetal side. The vessels resemble a tree’s roots and branches.
How amazing! 💜
