Pregnancy 101 - things your mother never told you

its not easy finding a CUTE picture of a placenta

Curiosity killed the cat but in some cases, it kills the apetite.

Truth is, Me being all scientific about pregnancy and my changing body, have been trying to find out what happens to the PLACENTA after you give birth to the baby - regrets very deeply that i did so. In fact i'm hoping that writing about it now will give me some sort of closure so that i will not end up dreaming about it. I can imagine some sort of B-grade movie "return of the giant placenta" flick coming on.

For those of you who may not have gone through pregnancy or yet to have long talks with your mother about gross topics oh, not forgetting the other human species which are not women and sound very much like mend (silent D). Here's what I found out.

Placenta:

>organ grows from the time of conception to eventually take over the production of hormones needed to sustain the pregnancy at around 12 weeks gestation (from your last menstrual period).

>It supplies your growing baby with a means of obtaining nutrients for development as well as a method of waste disposal.

>This is the only disposable organ ever made.

So far it sounds pretty cool. At this point i feel Nature is amazing.

You see, finding out all that is FINE.

but get to the part where I found out that people actually EAT PLACENTA; i stopped - I couldn't swollow anymore of it (no punn intended).

It doesn't get any better.

> Placenta (apparently) tastes like beef.

>There are many sites that give you receipes on different placenta dishes including PLACENTA STEW, PLACENTA in Brocolli and PLACENTA COCKTAIL.

> Placenta is used in most cosmetics especially anti-aging ones.

I have a doctor friend that told me about his days as a young Medical Officer where he had to do a stint in the delivery ward. Some hospitals take these placentas and put them in a giant fridge to be later collected by cosmetic comapanies. At first i was a little upset that i wasn't about to be paid or given any due credit for carrying about 5kg of weight around for 9 months while some multi-million dollar company used that part of me to make even more money. But now i dont' really wanna think about it.

Please don't be offended if you practise the culture of bringing home your placenta to bury it in the garden because it was given by mother nature to support your baby and now has to return to earth. I believe that everyone has their own cultural beliefs.

but eating it... dude... common

sorry but i'm not strong enough to stomach that thought.

Husband to note in delivery room: if the doctor asks, i'll just focus on baby in my arms and pretend i didn't see the third stage of delivery...

Other thing to note: It's good to have doctor friends

To consider: staying vegetarian