2. Clients Responsibility
Discuss your plans to encapsulate with your care provider (doctor or midwife) and make sure nurses and support staff are aware you plan to keep your placenta.
Disclose any counter indications for encapsulation including but not limited to: uterine infections, maternal fever, as well as any known blood borne pathogens, STD/STI & GBS status if known. Please let me know if you have any health concerns which may affect the health of your placenta or the health and safety of anyone who may come into contact with your placenta.
You are responsible for safe handling and storage until the placenta is picked up. It can remain at room temperature for 1-3 hours following the birth. Please assign your partner or someone on your birth team to be in charge of the placenta to ensure safe hadling and proper storage.
I give you a cooler before delivery (either in the mail or porch drop off) for clients birthing at the Birth Center or McKenzie-Wllamette. Your nurse should double bag the placenta and label it with your name. Neither of these locations provide refridgeration options. Place in cooler on ice once it is bagged. I provide baggies to fill with ice. Riverbend provides a dedicated fridge where placentas are triple bagged and double labeled. I will bring a cooler when picking up. If you prefer that the placenta stays in your posession, I will provide a cooler prior to delivery. Homebirth clients please have your midwife double bag in gallon baggies labled with your full name and refridgerate until pickup.
If it is going to be more than 4 days before the placenta is processed, it should be frozen. (A frozen placenta will take longer to prepare as I defrost it in the fridge prior to preparation.)
If the placenta is sent to pathology it is no longer considered safe for consumption. You can decline pathology, a swab test can be done if there is a suspected infection and placenta can be held until results are obtained. If pathology is required you may be able to have a blood print made, and retain the cord for a keepsake and possibly a piece of placenta for a tincture (pending pathology results if an infection is suspected). Cesearan Births, GBS+, Gestational Diabetes, and most medications including antibiotics are still safe for placenta encapsulation. If you're not sure call and ask.