The Miraculous 'Tree of Life' - Spokane, Washington Birth Photographer

Warning: This blog post contains educational material on the placenta, and is shown in it's raw form here.

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Life-sustainer, the Tree of Life, our first home; the Placenta.

Look at each one, and how different each is from the next...our bodies are truly amazing! The placenta is the only *truly* disposable organ, giving nutrients and oxygenated blood to the fetus growing inside the mother. Half blood from the mother, half blood from the baby, but never mixing from each. One side of the placenta carries the amniotic sac, a thin membrane-sealed bag where the baby lives, surrounded by fluid, until term. So, when a woman's "water breaks", it is the amniotic sac rupturing and the fluid either leaking, or gushing. The practice of delayed cord clamping is to ensure all the rich placenta blood makes it back into the baby's body instead of being left in the placenta. To make sure that blood is given back to baby, it only takes a few moments for the blood to transfer to baby, enough for the umbilical cord to fall white and limp, ready to cut.

Just like every birth, every placenta is so unique and beautiful, see so for yourself!