Tree of Life Placenta Services
Honoring the Placenta through Art: Placenta Prints and Cord Keepsakes
In addition to the medicinal uses, another way that we can bring back the tradition of honor and gratitude toward birth and the role of the placenta is to make artistically beautiful prints with it. I make your prints before I wash and prepare the placenta. They are printed with the natural placenta blood on acid-free artists paper. Some families frame them and display their prints as art or others choose to save them as personal keepsakes.
The prints are unique imprints that display the size, shape and general appearance of the placenta and also remind us why the placenta is often referred to as "The Tree of Life."
The standard placenta services package includes about half a dozen regular sized prints of both the baby's and the mother's side of the placenta. For an additional fee of $5, I can also make large placenta prints that are suitable for framing.
Membrane Art
Connected to your placenta are the membranes, which are also know as the bag of waters, or caul, if the baby is born with their membranes intact. They surrounded and grew with your baby for nine months and helped cushion the baby with amniotic fluid as well as protect it from outside germs. Many cultures make some form of traditional keepsake from the membranes and occasionally I may have the opportunity to do this as well. Sometimes the amnion - the thinest layer of the of the membrane sac - will separate from the rest of the sac and placenta. When this happens, I can preserve the amnion on paper in a way that displays the appearance of your baby's first home. Some mothers have even said that it reminds them of a tulip or a rose which they can envision their baby being born out of!
