Five things friday: the amazing placenta
It's Friday - which means "Five Things Friday," is on the menu! Let's talk about placentas....(which are ACTUALLY sometimes on the menu!)
What's the big deal about placentas, anyways? WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?! Let me tell you a little bit about this amazing organ (yes, it's an organ!)
1. The placenta is the only "disposable," or transient organ - you may be able to survive without your appendix, but the placenta is the only organ that is designed to grow, function, and be expelled when it's job is done. And what a job it has! The photo above shows the midwife examining the umbilical cord to make sure the three blood vessels are visible. There are two arteries that carry waste products and carbon dioxide into the placenta from the fetus, and a larger vein that provides blood that is rich in oxygen and nutrients TO the growing fetus.
2. Shortly after an egg is fertilized, the placenta starts to grow and attaches to the uterine wall (about 7-10 days after conception). It functions as multiple organ systems throughout pregnancy: It acts as a gland that secrets hormones that are necessary for your babe's growth - in fact, it takes over hormone production around 12 weeks of pregnancy. Prior to this point the corpus luteum handled most of the hormone production in early pregnancy.
3. It also acts as a variety of organs for your growing babe: it provides oxygen to the fetus like lungs, filters out waste functioning as the kidneys and liver, provides nutrients like the GI system, and provides antibodies like the immune system.
4. The blood of the birthing person, and the blood of the fetus both pass through the placenta simultaneously, but they never mix as they both have their own circulatory system. During pregnancy your body will deliver an entire pint of blood every minute to the placenta to exchange nutrients to your growing babe!
5. The placenta is not purely a maternal organ. In fact, it is formed from the fertilized egg, just like your babe - so it's formed from both egg AND sperm.
6. (I just couldn't keep it to five facts today) Did you know that humans are one of the only mammals that don’t regularly consume the placenta after birth (along with aquatic mammals)? The practice of eating ones own placenta is called Placentophagy, and is actually becoming more common in the human realm (some people will consume the placenta raw, while others cook it, make it into smoothies, or encapsulate it) and while there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that doing so can help balance hormones after birth, reduce post partum depression, and restore iron levels, there is currently no scientific evidence that it has health benefits.
Did you take a placenta tour after your babe was born? Leave a comment and tell me about it!