You’ve seen the neat little drawings of the placenta — your baby’s life support system in utero — but you’d be right to realize that those diagrams don’t look all that much like the real thing. (Think about how a frozen dinner’s cover packaging looks versus the end result straight out of your microwave.)
First things first: It’s bloody. It has to be, of course, because filtering blood is one of its primary functions. It’s also veiny and lumpy and pretty much looks like something fell out that wasn’t supposed to. (It’s actually considered a temporary internal organ — for a visual, imagine a deep red chicken liver times 20… and try not to throw up. Oh, we’re just kidding. When it’s yours, it’s not as oogy as you’d think.)
There are two distinct sides to the placenta: one that connects to the uterine wall, and the other that faces the baby. Have a look!
Placenta side 1 (uterine wall)
Placenta side 2 (baby’s side — parts of the amniotic sac still visible)
Sure, it’s gross, but let’s cut the placenta some slack. It was created out of the very same cells that made your baby, and was your little person’s lifeline all this time. Job well done, wouldn’t you say?
[...] different visit The Garden Helper — an extensive gardening guide website. If you save your baby’s placenta you can plant it along side of the [...]
Include the average size of placenta rather than saying “chicken liver times 20″. If I have never seen liver of a chicken, it will be difficult for me to imagine how long it should be. However, this page is realyy good and provide useful information in a very good way.
Comment by Ram Manohar Mishra — January 25, 2008 #
[...] Interested in what afterbirth looks like? [...]
Pingback by Pregnancy & Baby Blog » Blog Archive » Pregnancy definition of the day — July 9, 2007 #
[...] different visit The Garden Helper — an extensive gardening guide website. If you save your baby’s placenta you can plant it along side of the [...]
Pingback by Pregnancy & Baby Blog » Blog Archive » Celebrate your baby’s birth by planting a tree — August 5, 2007 #
[...] you want to keep your baby’s placenta? At a home birth this is a moot point but in a hospital you often need to [...]
Pingback by Pregnancy & Baby Blog » Blog Archive » Writing your birth plan — September 28, 2007 #
Include the average size of placenta rather than saying “chicken liver times 20″. If I have never seen liver of a chicken, it will be difficult for me to imagine how long it should be. However, this page is realyy good and provide useful information in a very good way.
Comment by Ram Manohar Mishra — January 25, 2008 #
EWWWWWW THATS SO GROSS.
Comment by Zak — May 10, 2008 #