Joel Stein is one of the comedians on those snarky VH1 shows. You know, “The Most Deliciously Horrible Songs of the 80’s” or some such. Anyway, when his wife wanted to have “placental encapsulation” following the birth of their baby, he wrote an article and made a video about it for Time magazine.

Placental anything in the hands of a comic is not likely to get a particularly gentle treatment, so if you’re looking for a precious account of placental encapsulation this is not the article for you. If, however, you are curious about the whole placenta eating thing, and humor makes the topic a little easier to stomach (so to speak), this article is a great demystifier and laughter inducer.

I’m quite amazed that Time magazine featured this story. While there is certainly fun poking, there is also awareness raising, and that’s always good from my point of view. As for the capsules? I say, if the idea appeals to you, why not? If you want to learn more you can check out this site or do a Bing or Google search.

One more thing, as a labor and delivery nurse, post-delivery placenta management was my responsibilities. I looked them over for any abnormalities, sometimes drew blood from them, and then packaged them up for the lab or disposal. A good healthy placenta isn’t really so super scary, and most of the time, unless you want to, you won’t even have to look at it. That said, a fair number of moms and partners did want to get a look because it is such an amazing organ.