Aged/calcified placenta?

[bigmamakelsey]

Has anyone on here had one? With DS my midwife said my placenta looked very aged and calcified - the sign of an overdue baby or a smoker mother. I don't smoke, eat very healthy, and had a 36 weeker. I guess I'm just trying to figure out if this is common. If you've had an aged placenta in one birth, were your other placentas the same way? I'm particularly interested if anyone has eaten/encapsulated an aged looking placenta. I really want to encapsulate or make a tincture of mine this time, but if it's calcified I don't know that it would reap the same benefits or be worth saving. Opinions?

[wildsissy]

well.. I had some experience with an almost totally calcified placenta.. BUT it was the placenta of my nephew who passed around 22 weeks gestation and then wasn't born until a week or more later. not trying to scare you, the mother had amniotic band syndrome so there were obviously complications. I tried to have the placenta encapsulated so she would not suffer as much PPD however with a full calcification it could not be done. Instead, they saved it to plant under a tree. I am hoping more mama's comment on this because I would love to someday add encapsulating to my list of mama services I offer!

[bigmamakelsey]

No worries, the aged/calcified one was from DS1, and he's healthy and happy I have no idea if it'll be the same way with this one, just trying to get some input if it is

[songbird516]

My placenta with my first had quite a lot of infarctions, or areas where the circulation had stopped. She was born at 40 weeks. My baby this week was born at 41 weeks but the placenta looked awesome- no infarctions or calcification at all. The midwife said that my diet must be good based on the appearance of my placenta. I did change my diet in between children- with my daughter I was eating a low-fat, high in whole-grain and low in animal protein diet. I switched to a traditional, whole food diet with lots of local eggs, meat, and raw dairy and lower in grains/carbs. The size of the babies wasn't affected, but my placenta looked much healthier; don't know if it was related.

[bigmamakelsey]

Originally Posted by songbird516 My placenta with my first had quite a lot of infarctions, or areas where the circulation had stopped. She was born at 40 weeks. My baby this week was born at 41 weeks but the placenta looked awesome- no infarctions or calcification at all. The midwife said that my diet must be good based on the appearance of my placenta. I did change my diet in between children- with my daughter I was eating a low-fat, high in whole-grain and low in animal protein diet. I switched to a traditional, whole food diet with lots of local eggs, meat, and raw dairy and lower in grains/carbs. The size of the babies wasn't affected, but my placenta looked much healthier; don't know if it was related.

Interesting. I ate REALLY healthy with DS and got all my food groups every day. I also exercised every single day. I still eat pretty healthy, but I've been worse this time I've definitely had a sweet tooth. I've been exercising a little less, about every other day. I didn't gain much weight with Lennon - about 11-16 total. I've gained that ALREADY with the pregnancy, so maybe that makes a difference? Who knows. I tried to google it, but nothing really came up.

[songbird516]

I exercised more in the first pregnancy, and gained less. But, I started out weighing almost 20 pounds more. I'm not sure that exercise has too much of an effect just based on my (two, anecdotal), experiences. :/
I probably ate all of my "food groups" the first time- I thought that my diet was very healthy, but now I know that it wasn't as nutritious as it should have been, and unbalanced towards carbs, with not enough fat. Way too much soy and processed cereals.

[mamaratliff]

My midwife recently said that taking too many tums will cause calcification spots on the placenta. Could that have been the case for you?

[bigmamakelsey]

Nope, I don't think I ever took tums. The times I did have heartburn I just drank some milk.

[CDNMommyofmany]

I was told with my last pregnancy that my placenta appeared to be calcifying during a level 2 ultrasound at 31 weeks and that my baby was severe IUGR because of it...I ended up delivering her at 33 weeks (pprom), and the lab came back that my placenta actually had a couple small subchorionic hemorrages, that showed up as "darker" looking areas on the u/s making it look calcified when it really wasn't...

[bigmamakelsey]

Interesting..I never had any bad side effects from it I don't think Other than DS being born at 36 weeks. I wouldn't have minded if he'd stayed in a few more weeks, but he was ok.
It wasn't super calclified as much as it just looked "aged." Just not healthy and fresh like other placentas I've seen - darker, bluer, and almost shriveled in appearance.