Line about keeping placenta in birth plan?

TrendyTina · March 2012

For those of you who kept your placenta, how did you include that in your birth plan?

LindseyJW · March 2012

i think you are birthing at a hospital, right?

from personal experience, you need to do more than just put it in your birth plan. everyone needs to know, in advance, and you likely need to fill out some forms at your hospital in order to break the routine transfer of placentas for testing. once that happens, you can forget about taking it home.

put it in your birthing plan, but also find out from your hospital what the procedures are. in some places, it is sent to the morgue and you even have to go through an official funeral home to have it released. totally ridiculous, but that's happened in my area.

TrendyTina · March 2012

LindseyJW:

i think you are birthing at a hospital, right?

from personal experience, you need to do more than just put it in your birth plan. everyone needs to know, in advance, and you likely need to fill out some forms at your hospital in order to break the routine transfer of placentas for testing. once that happens, you can forget about taking it home.

put it in your birthing plan, but also find out from your hospital what the procedures are. in some places, it is sent to the morgue and you even have to go through an official funeral home to have it released. totally ridiculous, but that's happened in my area.

oh wow! I better start looking into this. I'll call the hospital and talk to my doula. Thank you so much for the information!

pinksweetpea2 · March 2012

Yeah, I would look into it now. At many hospitals in MA you have to get a burial order to take yours with you. Absurd, but true.

caralck · March 2012

And after filling out the paperwork, keep reminding your nurses about your plan. It may annoy them but I had a patient while in training whose placenta was tossed even though she filled out the form because one of the nurses who took over her care wasn't aware she was going to take it with her. The one nurse who didn't know the plan ruined her plans of planting the placenta with a new tree.

StefandTodd · March 2012

What the whaaaaaa?? A burial order?! Holy ish!

I had a line in my birth plan:

"We would like to take the placenta home with us"

And my husband and doula were both very good abour remembering to tell/remind them while I was birthing the placenta.

May I ask what your plan is with it? If you're planning to have it encapsulated, many specialists will have a general release form that you can bring with you to the hospital, so you could have that as a back up. But I also think most hospitals will have you fill out their release form.

Good luck with your research and what you find out abuot your hospital!

TrendyTina · March 2012

StefandTodd:

What the whaaaaaa?? A burial order?! Holy ish!

I had a line in my birth plan:

"We would like to take the placenta home with us"

And my husband and doula were both very good abour remembering to tell/remind them while I was birthing the placenta.

May I ask what your plan is with it? If you're planning to have it encapsulated, many specialists will have a general release form that you can bring with you to the hospital, so you could have that as a back up. But I also think most hospitals will have you fill out their release form.

Good luck with your research and what you find out abuot your hospital!

Yes, my doula is going to encapsulate it for me. I called the hospital and they have a form, but there is nothing for me to do in advance. Once I sign their release form, I can take it home (according to the nurse I spoke with). We have our hospital tour in 2 weeks, so I'll ask again. I'm hoping there won't be any issues and they will just give it to me. This is yet another reason why I hope to have a home birth next time. All the hospital red tape is beyond annoying. It's my placenta! JUST LET ME HAVE IT!

LindseyJW · March 2012

TrendyTina:
StefandTodd:

What the whaaaaaa?? A burial order?! Holy ish!

I had a line in my birth plan:

"We would like to take the placenta home with us"

And my husband and doula were both very good abour remembering to tell/remind them while I was birthing the placenta.

May I ask what your plan is with it? If you're planning to have it encapsulated, many specialists will have a general release form that you can bring with you to the hospital, so you could have that as a back up. But I also think most hospitals will have you fill out their release form.

Good luck with your research and what you find out abuot your hospital!

Yes, my doula is going to encapsulate it for me. I called the hospital and they have a form, but there is nothing for me to do in advance. Once I sign their release form, I can take it home (according to the nurse I spoke with). We have our hospital tour in 2 weeks, so I'll ask again. I'm hoping there won't be any issues and they will just give it to me. This is yet another reason why I hope to have a home birth next time. All the hospital red tape is beyond annoying. It's my placenta! JUST LET ME HAVE IT!

yay!

LesleyT · March 2012

oh, wow- thanks for bringing this up- I am doing my birth plan and totally forgot to include that- as I'm having mine encapsulated too- thanks for the reminder!

sschwege · March 2012

TrendyTina:
StefandTodd:

What the whaaaaaa?? A burial order?! Holy ish!

I had a line in my birth plan:

"We would like to take the placenta home with us"

And my husband and doula were both very good abour remembering to tell/remind them while I was birthing the placenta.

May I ask what your plan is with it? If you're planning to have it encapsulated, many specialists will have a general release form that you can bring with you to the hospital, so you could have that as a back up. But I also think most hospitals will have you fill out their release form.

Good luck with your research and what you find out abuot your hospital!

Yes, my doula is going to encapsulate it for me. I called the hospital and they have a form, but there is nothing for me to do in advance. Once I sign their release form, I can take it home (according to the nurse I spoke with). We have our hospital tour in 2 weeks, so I'll ask again. I'm hoping there won't be any issues and they will just give it to me. This is yet another reason why I hope to have a home birth next time. All the hospital red tape is beyond annoying. It's my placenta! JUST LET ME HAVE IT!

I think that was the case with my hospital. I never planned to keep mine, but after my CNM examined it she asked me if I wanted to keep it. I said told her no and she went on to explain that some women have it encapsulated, etc. So gathering from her explanation, it wouldn't have been a big deal if I had wanted to keep it, even if I asked for it at the last minute. I'm sure every hospital is different though.

pixieprincss · March 2012

Yay for no hoops! We had it in our birth plan and no one said a word to us before labor. Lo and behold I'm in labor and it turns out the hospital has a policy in contradiction to state law that meant we were in for a fight. We decided it wasn't worth it to. It was a sad thing and had I known ahead of time I would've made a (respectful) stink about it. In the moment, we just had to weigh our priorities and that was something that needed to go. We are doing a natural BC this time, so there will be no problems.

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