Register for your Placenta Preparation and Encapsulation Service by May 31st and receive 20% off the service fee.

Register Here:

Photo from kids-face-painting.blogspot.com

The Winner Is!

Congratulations to Cassie Nickle! You are the winner of our contest for a free placenta encapsulation service from Leigh Anne DuChene, Dallas Placenta Specialist. Please email me at LeighAnne@PlacentaBenefits.info to register for your free service!

Winner was selected by random selection at Random.org.

Artwork from FineArtAmerica.com

Everyone Is A Winner!

Thank you to all the amazing mamas who participated in our contest! Just for participating, all others will receive a 20% discount off of placenta encapsulation services from Leigh Anne DuChene, Dallas Placenta Specialist. Please email me at LeighAnne@PlacentaBenefits.info to register for 20% off your placenta encapsulation service!

Artwork by Amy Swagman of The Mandala Journey.

Spread The Placenta Love!

Spread the love by referring your pregnant friends and family members to receive 10% off their placenta encapsulation service from Leigh Anne DuChene, Dallas Placenta Specialist. To register for 10% discount off their placenta encapsulation service they need to email me at LeighAnne@DallasPlacentaSpecialist.com letting me know who referred them to verify the discount.

Thank you all again for participating in our first blog contest, and keep updated on our future events and contests.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene, BS, CPPS, CPES, Nutritionist
Placenta Specialist Trainer & Mentor
www.PlacentaProfessionals.com

Starting now through Earth Day, Friday, April 22nd at midnight you can enter to win a FREE Placenta Encapsulation Service!

How to enter… Count The Ways!

ONE entry for each:

1) Comment on this blog post with your name, due date, and email address. This is your official entry, you MUST comment to this post to be officially entered.

2) LIKE me, Dallas Placenta Specialist, on Facebook (follow the link in this post here to the appropriate page) and you MUST comment below when you have done so with your name, email, and FB name to identify you. If you already LIKE me on FB, you MUST comment below with the same information.

3) Send 5 DFW, TX area pregnant mamas to LIKE me, Dallas Placenta Specialist, on Facebook, have them post “their estimated due date, area of DFW, TX they are in (They can post county if they are not comfortable posting city.) and who sent them” on the Dallas Placenta Specialist Facebook Page wall. You may receive one entry for every 5 DFW area pregnant mamas who do this. There is no limit to number of times you can qualify for this entry method.

4) Update your Facebook status to:  “I Entered to Win a FREE Placenta Encapsulation Service from Dallas Placenta Specialist! Are you pregnant too? Go LIKE her page and POST on her wall “your estimated due date, area of DFW, TX you are in, and that I sent you.” Then find out how you can enter too!” – Tag Dallas Placenta Specialist’s FB page in your status post by using @Dallas Placenta Specialist when posting. You MUST post in the comments below when, each time, this is done with your name, email, and Facebook profile link for verification. You may receive one entry for each day that you post this on your status, be sure to comment here each day you post this to your status.

5) Share this blog post on your profile as a link! You MUST post in the comments when, each time, this is done with your name, email, and Facebook profile link for verification. You may receive one entry for each day that you share this blog post link on your profile, be sure to comment here each day you share the link.

23 PLUS possible entries!

Winner will be selected by electronic random drawing from all entries received, and announced on Monday, April 24th.

GOOD LUCK! And have fun! Love to you all, mamas!

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene, BS, CPPS, CPES, Nutritionist
Placenta Specialist Trainer & Mentor
www.PlacentaProfessionals.com

LeighAnne@DallasPlacentaSpecialist.com
214-531-4346

I am now offering new services that are all fully compatible with placenta encapsulation.

Eating Placenta Raw After Birth

Placenta Essence Tincture & Homeopathic Remedy

Placenta Salve

Placenta Prints

Placenta Burial & Tree Planting Ceremony

Nourish Life,

Leigh Anne DuChene, BS, CPPS, CPES, Nutritionist
Placenta Specialist Trainer & Mentor
www.PlacentaProfessionals.com

LeighAnne@DallasPlacentaSpecialist.com
214-531-4346

The Mothers Act and Health Care Bill is a prescription for disaster for postpartum mothers!

This bill works to get anti-depressants, and who knows what other kinds of drugs, into the hands of new moms before they leave the hospital.

The package labels on antidepressants states that the risk of psychosis while taking antidepressants is 1/100.

Postpartum women typically have a risk of Postpartum Psychosis of 1/1000.

Thus, taking antidepressants increases a postpartum mother’s risk of developing postpartum psychosis 1000%.

That is astounding!

In the report, “The Drugging of Post Partum Depression” put out by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, it is stated that, “Many people think that psychiatric disorders, such as depression or post-partum [after birth] depression, are the same as medical diseases or illnesses. However, this is very misleading, especially to a mother who has experienced the trauma of just giving birth. To have her think the emotional roller coaster she may be experiencing is the result of a “chemical imbalance in the brain,” requiring mind-altering medication, is false and harmful.”

In this report, Ron Leifer says, “There’s no biological imbalance. When people come to me and they say, ‘I have a biochemical imbalance.’ I say, ‘Show me your lab tests.’ There are no lab tests. So what’s the biochemical imbalance?”

As you can see there is no test to definitively identify and diagnose a biochemical imbalance. Thus the claim of such a thing can be very harmful and misleading.

The report goes on to say, “This does not mean that serious emotional difficulties do not exist, that people’s hopes cannot be shattered or that their methods of coping with this cannot fail. But it does mean that psychiatrists, psychologists, and drug groups have used such difficulties to their advantage, promoting powerful drugs as a “solution” for vulnerable individuals.”

Not only powerful, but mind-altering drugs, known to have severe mental and emotional effects on individuals taking them, even harm to others and suicide.

This report sites Dr. Sydney Walker III’s work stating that, “psychiatric drugs ‘often create new and serious symptoms patients didn’t have before ‘treatment’’ and ‘upset the natural chemical environment of neurons (brain cells…).”

Also mentioned is the fact that, “Any medical doctor who takes the time to conduct a thorough physical examination of someone exhibiting signs of what psychiatrists say are “mental disorders”, including post partum depression, can find undiagnosed, untreated physical conditions.”

This means that there are other physical signs and symptoms that are associated with such “mental disorders” and can be addressed by correcting the problem causing both the physical and mental symptoms.

This is where proper nutrition, supplementation, emotional coping techniques, and exercise come into play for any individual, but especially for postpartum mothers.

Postpartum nutrition and supplementation are critical to allowing the body to rebalance and heal after the traumatic event of birth. Please understand, I am not saying that all birth is traumatic, just that it is hard on the body and elicits stress coping hormones, which are used in dealing with and recovering from traumatic events, on a very high level. Thus, it can be preserved on a biochemical level that birth is a traumatic event on the body, regardless if the actual event was truly a traumatic one for the mother.

Actually, when the birth is preserved as a traumatic experience the risk of emotional upset and turmoil is even greater; thus, the risk of postpartum depression is even higher.

I am a post unexpected emergency cesarean birth mother after experiencing a very emotionally traumatic labor and birth with my first child, just over 3 years ago. I did experience postpartum depression and the emotional turmoil is very real. It is, however, very much able to be worked with utilizing various emotional techniques like Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique (BEST), Neuro Emotional Technique (NET), and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). I never once took medications. I, instead, utilized these emotional healing techniques; along with nutritional therapy, chiropractic care, breathwork, and meditation to help cope with and overcome my emotional distress after the birth of my first child, and with great success. So much so, that I am now a post traumatic birth and cesarean healing specialist, offering emotional support and guidance, and bodywork treatments, as a licensed massage therapist and a breathwork facilitator, to postpartum mothers dealing with these issues.

Instead of forcing unscientific, mind-altering medication on postpartum moms, why not just give them their placenta!! It is, after all, theirs!

Collective research supports the theory that placentophagia helps to restore hormone levels to normal in the postpartum mother, therefore, potentially preventing the baby blues, and possibly even postpartum depression. Research is currently under way with Placenta Benefits, Ltd. and UNLV to determine many different things regarding placentophagia; including if, and potentially how, the consumption of the placenta can help balance hormones for a postpartum mother. The results of this current ongoing research are eagerly anticipated to help support and further the advocacy of placentophagy.

There are many ways to consume the placenta, the most common, appealing, and best for preservation way is in capsule form, a process called placenta encapsulation. Placenta Professionals trains placenta encapsulation specialists in understanding the research supporting and benefits of placentophagy; as well as, how to safely and properly encapsulate the placenta using Traditional Chinese Methods for postpartum mothers to use as a dietary supplement.

By the time I was pregnant with my second child, 4 months old currently, I had learned about placenta encapsulation and had been trained as a Placenta Encapsulation Specialist. I consumed my placenta postpartum, and still do so current via my placenta capsules. I have not experienced one sign of baby blues or postpartum depression this time. My postpartum experience this time has been such a beautiful, loving, nurturing, and well connected experience with my son. I do wish I could have had this same experience with my first, but I have not let that effect my relationship with my oldest son either. I have found actually that I have been able to bond on a deeper and even more nurturing level with my oldest son after the birth of my second son. I truly believe that the use of my placenta postpartum as a dietary supplement has played the key role in allowing this entire experience to occur. I am so grateful to be able to provide this service to other postpartum mothers so that they may be able to experience a joyful babymoon too!

For more information on the research supporting and benefits of placentophagy visit Placenta Professionals.

Please, make your voice heard against The Mothers Act and Health Care Bill! This bill will effect more than just postpartum women, but many people; including children in public school via the Teen Screen.

To speak out against this bill, please go to “Urgent Fax Document and Phone List – Stop The Mothers Act and Health Care Bill”.

For more information as to why this bill should not be passed please visit the Unite for Life Blog and Unite for Life.org.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is a non-profit public benefit organization that investigates and exposes psychiatric violations of human rights. This is the organization that published the report I sited here and has put out a documentary on the devastating effects of psychotropic drugs entitled, “Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging.” To obtain a copy go to www.cchr-london.org.

For information on placenta encapsulation services in your area please visit www.PlacentaProfessionals.com.

If you are in the DFW or North Texas area please visit www.DallasPlacentaSpecialist.com for information.

Nourish Life,

Leigh Anne DuChene, BS, CPPS, CPES, Nutritionist
Placenta Specialist Trainer & Mentor
www.PlacentaProfessionals.com

LeighAnne@DallasPlacentaSpecialist.com
214-531-4346

I did this interview with Dallas Ch. 11 CBS news on December 18, 2009.

Around 80% of postpartum women experience what is known as the baby blues which starts within the first few days to a week after birth and lasts a couple of weeks postpartum. The baby blues can cause women to have mood swings, and feel fatigued, weepy, unable to sleep, irritable, anxious, and emotionally stressed. While the baby blues is considered a form of depression it usually does not last longer than a few weeks postpartum. If these signs and symptoms continue for longer then a few weeks postpartum the woman is often believed to be suffering from postpartum depression. About 20% of postpartum women will actually experience postpartum depression (PPD), which can last for months after the birth of the baby and may arise at any time within the first year postpartum. Signs and symptoms of baby blues are very similar to those of PPD, with PPD being more severe and lasting for a longer period of time.

Symptoms of PPD are:

* Lack of interest in your baby – Not desiring to hold, care for (diaper changes, feedings, etc.), or, often times, to even be near your baby. Doing these things may elicit feelings of frustration, guilt, loneliness, desperation, and sometimes even anger in the mother.

* The inability to sleep – Insomnia

* Sadness

* Weepiness – Unexplainable and often unpredictable

* Physical aches and pains

* Lack of interest in things that once were enjoyable and made you happy

* Loss or Increase in Appetite

* General anxiety and worrying

* Difficulty concentrating

* Moody or Irritable

* Withdrawal from activities, family, and friends

* Feelings of guilt – Can be general or specific, or even unidentifiable and unexplainable

* Feeling overwhelmed

* Panic Attacks – pounding heart, dizziness, confusion, feelings of impending doom, things often seem chaotic around you when they actually are not

* Negative or Scary Thoughts – Unexplainable and unpredictable

* Suicidal Thoughts – Immediately contact someone for support or help if experiencing this!

Diagnosis of PPD must be done by a health care professional.

Often times moms who experience PPD will have feelings of inadequacy as a mother, wife, and in other areas of her life. These feelings of inadequacy, lack of interest in baby, and negative or scary thoughts can have a major negative impact on mother-infant bonding. If you experience these things find support and help.

Visit the Postpartum Care Class page for a list of postpartum support resources and contacts.

There are many thoughts as to why the baby blues and PPD occur, and there are many things that can impact the postpartum mother. The experience and outcomes of the pregnancy, labor, birth, and health of the baby will all have huge implications on the mother emotionally. If a mother experienced a very traumatic birth her hormones are drastically influenced by the emotions she felt during the experience and continues to feel regarding the experience. Hormones directly affect how we feel emotionally and physically. So, it is easy to see that fatigue, moodiness, irritability, and all the other symptoms can easily manifest in the early days postpartum if a mother experiences a traumatic birth. Hormones also have an impact on the ability of the mother to lactate sufficiently or at all. If breastfeeding was desired and negatively impacted by to the hormonal imbalance that the emotions experienced during and after the traumatic birth, this will perpetuate the issues by leading to stress, feelings of guilt, inadequacy, failure, and more.

Even for women who experience their “perfect” birth, or a birth that went well and did not have a negative emotional impact on them , still experience a hormonal imbalance postpartum, all women do. George Chrousos, an endocrinologist, led a study done at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that discovered that new mothers have lower than normal levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) which helps the body fight off depression, regulate blood-sugar levels, and maintain normal blood pressure when experiencing stress. We all know that adjusting to life with a newborn, regardless if it is your first or fifth child, is stressful to some degree on the new mother.

So, how do we combat or, even better, strive to prevent the baby blues and PPD from starting?

This question has a multifaceted answer, as it is a combination of things that can lead to the onset, it is also a combination of things that can work to combat or prevent it. However, there is a precious gift that God has given postpartum moms to aid in their hormonal balance and physical recovery postpartum, the placenta. The study done at NIH led by Chrousos showed that the placenta produced large amounts of CRH during the end of the pregnancy and once the placenta is birthed those levels begin to drastically drop in the mother. Another study showed that placenta can alter hormones. So, that leads us to using the placenta for postpartum healing and recovery. Using the placenta for healing can be done a variety of ways; consuming it raw, cooking it in a meal, blending it in a smoothie, or freezing it in bite size pieces to be eaten or put in a smoothie; but you do NOT have to do any of these methods mentioned in order to obtain the healing benefits of the placenta. The most appealing method is to have the placenta encapsulated into pills so that you can take it just like any other supplement, along with your prenatal vitamins, which should be continued during the postpartum period as well, especially if nursing. Mothers who have taken their own placenta pills have reported mood stability, increased energy, ability to focus, and an overall general happiness. Placenta has even been shown to help aid in lactation.

With such amazing evidence to the benefits of maternal placenta consumption for postpartum healing and recovery, I believe that every mother should have the availability to keep her placenta after birth and have it made into pills if she so chooses.

I know I, personally, had amazing result from taking my placenta pills and will certainly be doing it after all my subsequent births.

Nourish Life,

Leigh Anne DuChene, BS, CPPS, CPES, Nutritionist
Placenta Specialist Trainer & Mentor
www.PlacentaProfessionals.com

LeighAnne@DallasPlacentaSpecialist.com
214-531-4346

Jude Anthony DuChene - Just after birth, wear the hat I knit for him.

As many of you know I was expecting my second child and planning to encapsulate my own placenta, I didn’t get to with my first as I didn’t know about placenta encapsulation or the benefits of the placenta to mom postpartum then.

Well, we ended up having a hospital natural VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean, we had an emergency cesarean after 39 hours of labor with my first son 3 years ago) at 43 weeks gestation on November 27, 2009 and gave birth to a little boy, Jude Anthony DuChene, at 2:59 pm weighing 9 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 1/2 in. long! YEA! ;o)

I got my placenta from my OB and came prepared with containers, ice, and cooler.

Well, I didn’t want to wait for 3 days to start receiving the benefits of the placenta (as we had to stay 48 hours for newborn GBS observation because we did not have GBS testing done by our choice and no antibiotics were given to me as I arrived at the hospital at 9cm and ready to deliver, so they had to visually monitor baby for 48 hours they said) so I also came prepared to have a little bit of it raw while in the hospital.

The notch at the top is where my dear husband cut a small lobe off for me to eat raw just after the birth.

While my husband was preparing that small portion that I was to eat raw a nurse walked in, and then turned around and walked back out. She wasn’t pleased with what she saw! lol Dear husband in gloves with blood on them and a pair of kitchen scissors and a bowl full of tissue. lol She reported it to the charge nurse, and then they reported it to the hospital’s health safety department. The department evidently came down (I never saw them) and asked that the placenta be disposed of. So the charge nurse came in and spoke with me. She said that she was informed that I was given my placenta after the birth, and then proceeded to inform me that it is against hospital policy to release the placenta. A fact which I already knew and thus worked with my OB to get my placenta, whom had absolutely no problem giving it to me as soon as the cord was cut (which is another issue, as the OB did not delay cord clamp as I requested, urgh!) and letting my doula leave with it. I told her that I understand that is the hospital’s policy, but my OB was okay with giving it to me so she did. The nurse then asked if my placenta was still in the hospital. I told her no, it was already removed and at my house. And then the interesting part. She said, “All of it?” (glancing at the bowl of the small pieces of raw

The tiny cut up pieces of raw placenta. My first postpartum meal.

placenta) LOL I said, “Well, all except that little bit there in the bowl that I am eating.” She did not flinch when I said that. All she said is that it could make me sick and that is a health risk that the hospital is not willing to take. I said, “Well, it is my placenta and it won’t make me sick, and I have already eaten it. I will sign a waiver if the hospital feels they need one.” The charge nurse replied, “Okay, everything will be fine as long as you dispose of what is in the bowl.” She did not instruct me on how to dispose of it, so instead of being able to eat it over a short period of time, I had to eat it all in one sitting. So, I did eat it all! ) I did not chew it, just held the tiny pieces that my husband had cut it up into under my tongue like a homeopathic pill for a few seconds or so, and then swallowed it whole with my water or smoothie that my husband had also prepared for me.

So, a bit of my placenta raw and a protein super food smoothie was my first postpartum meal! And we got to cause a little bit of a ruckus with the hospital! LOL Though it really didn’t seem to be much of a problem at all in reality, even though they tried to make a little bit of a fuss.

Then on day 3 postpartum, after we had gotten home, (again, they kept us for 48 hours for GBS observation for baby since we didn’t have a GBS test, and no antibiotics were administered because I arrived at the hospital at 9cm and ready to push ;o) lol) I started the encapsulation process for my placenta and I got 156 capsules out of my placenta. It was the largest, thickest, and healthiest looking placenta I have had the privilege to work with, and the most capsules I have gotten out of a placenta by far!

I wanted to share my experience and a bit of my story with you! It was an awesome experience and I have been doing FABULOUS! The nurses were even impressed with how well I was doing postpartum. Placenta is truly a gift!

Also, one of the huge benefits of taking the placenta capsules is that it helps regulate our hormones postpartum. Well, an added plus to that is that hormones play a HUGE role in weight lose and/or retention. At 10 days postpartum I was already back to my pre-pregnancy weight, lost all 36lbs already!!! I lost 23 lbs by day 3 postpartum, 30 lbs by 7 days postpartum, and all 36 lbs by day 10 postpartum. And I look and feel fabulous!!!

For more information about placenta encapsulation please visit Dallas Placenta Specialist and Placenta Professionals.

Nourish Life,

Leigh Anne DuChene, BS, CPPS, CPES, Nutritionist
Placenta Specialist Trainer & Mentor
www.PlacentaProfessionals.com

LeighAnne@DallasPlacentaSpecialist.com
214-531-4346

The Traditional Chinese Medicine use of the placenta medicinally is one of the first known and understood traditions of consuming the placenta postpartum by the mother. The benefits of doing so are tremendous, though not scientifically understood why until recent years after Dr. Kristal and a few other scientists’ extensive research on the effects and benefits of placenta during the postpartum period on mammals, and why mammals instinctual consume the afterbirth in all situations and when denied the afterbirth lack bonding with their offspring and exhibit signs of mental disturbances.

The book Placenta: The Gift of Life by Cornelia Enning is all about cultural practices of honoring and utilizing the placenta.

Overview of Book:

• In the 16th century a piece of placenta was added to the mother’s first postpartum meal in southern Germany?
• Or that in the 1970s Cuba exported 40 tons of human placentas to a French laboratory after discovering that it could be used to successfully treat vitiligo, a condition that causes the skin to lose pigment?
• Or that, even today, in many areas of the world, if a child needs special protection, a dried part of the placenta is tied around his neck?

These facts and more can be found in Motherbaby Press’s seminal publication: Placenta:The Gift of Life. Do you want to use your baby’s placenta for a birth ritual or as an aid to bonding and breastfeeding? This book contains comprehensive and up-to-date information on how the placenta has been used in the past, medical uses throughout the world, and how individuals can make use of the placenta in a variety of ways. This may involve burial under a certain kind of tree, drying for use as a lucky charm, or even ingestion as a medicine.

Placenta:The Gift of Life combines the experiences of midwives, doctors and naturopaths with our ancestors’ traditions, and saves some old recipes from oblivion. Learn about:

• Historical uses of the placenta
• The use of the placenta in postpartum healing and breastfeeding
• Regulation and current medical and cosmetic uses of the placenta in various countries
• Scientific evidence supporting the medicinal uses of placenta
• How to process placenta for medical use
• Recipes for using the placenta

While numerous articles have been written on the subject, this unique and groundbreaking book is the only guide to using placenta currently on the market.

Excerpt from book: From chapter: Back to the Natural Healing Powers of the Placenta

“Throughout the world generations have passed down knowledge of how ingesting placenta helps a mother’s postpartum recovery. Women using placenta remedies after birth feel stronger, are happier and can breastfeed more easily. If edema, elevated blood pressure or traces of protein in the urine signal malfunction of the kidneys during pregnancy, placenta remedies can eliminate these symptoms quickly. The symptoms of toxemia in pregnancy usually go hand-in-hand with a late onset of lactation after birth. Swelling in the fingers and legs may take up to six weeks to disappear again.

Placenta remedies, such as the powder, emulsion or an injection with the extract, can speed up this process considerably. With this treatment toxemic women can breastfeed well within two weeks. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses placenta to strengthen the kidneys. Mood swings resulting from a drop in the blood progesterone level respond well to a treatment with placenta remedies. Many conditions during birth, the postpartum period and nursing would not arise if we returned to the old custom of applying placenta remedies.”

What an amazing gift the placenta truly is! If only all mothers knew about and utilized the benefits of the placenta in postpartum nutrition and supplementation for healing and recovery.

Through placenta encapsulation all mothers can benefit from the placenta during postpartum in a way that is easily consumable, well preserved, and strongly based on Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Nourish Life,

Leigh Anne DuChene, BS, CPPS, CPES, Nutritionist
Placenta Specialist Trainer & Mentor
www.PlacentaProfessionals.com

LeighAnne@DallasPlacentaSpecialist.com
214-531-4346