One Fine Placenta

I am fascinated with the human body. I loved my anatomy and physiology classes in high school and college--they strengthened my belief in God and the perfect order He created. I am especially awed by the fact that women's bodies were created to grow and nourish a baby. When Squeak was born, I felt complete reverence knowing that my body had created her entire self from two cells in a mere nine months.

Pretty much my only regret with Squeak's birth is that I didn't get a photo of her placenta. It was awesome, so healthy and large and amazing... I made sure to get a photo of Pip's placenta, not wanting to make the same mistake twice. I won't be uploading that photo, though. The nurse was a little, shall we say, indiscreet with her aim, and since I don't have Photoshop... Oh, well.

The PLACENTA... If you're not a biology person, you may not know this, but pretty much all your body does during the first trimester is make a placenta. Yes, of course, the baby is developing and different organs are forming, but the major GROWTH that occurs in the unborn baby doesn't happen until after the placenta is formed. Your body grows a placenta and your placenta grows a baby. And the placenta is a new organ (but just a temporary one)--so in approximately 12 weeks, the woman's body creates a whole new organ. WOW! That's why I'm always so excited to see the placenta when I have a baby.

Squirt's placenta: Well, this must be one fine placenta, because my body sure worked hard to make it. I never felt so sick with my other two pregnancies. I was curled up on the couch for most of the day, every day. Unfortunately, not knowing how ill I would feel, I had already committed to hosting and running my birthday half-marathon, finishing up one HypnoBirthing class and teaching another, throwing a baby shower, watching my friend's 2-year-old for a few days while she was in the hospital having a baby, and getting ready to move out of state. This time period also coincided with one of D's busiest months of the year. I'm not sure how we survived, to be honest. I was so grateful for the visit of my sis and our dear friends during that time--it helped keep my mind off the fact that I felt like poo all the time. After I'd done the stuff I'd committed to do, I decided to lay low. I didn't clean the house, buy food, or even go out unless it was absolutely necessary. I was a little bit worried about our upcoming move, but fortunately I stopped feeling like throwing up a few weeks before, so I was able to pack and stuff (although 2+ months of being sick had made me completely disorganized, blah!), plus we had a bunch of people bail us out.

So maybe I'll get a good shot of Squirt's placenta this time. I'm interested to see if my theory is correct--the harder your body works to make the placenta, the more robust your placenta is.