Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Liza's little tree.

Prior to Liza's birth, I knew we needed to do something special with her placenta.  After all, it nourished her in the womb and I felt it deserved respect honoring it's important role in our healthy pregnancy.  But life with a newborn and a toddler quickly picked up pace and our placenta remained double bagged in the back of our freezer.

My original intention was to plant it under a fruit bearing tree or bush so that it could all come full circle. But, I am not one to snub my nose at something free so it was easy to change my plans when a sweet little cedar (or is it a fir?) tree fell in my lap.

Taylor came home early on Valentine's Day to plant our little tree while the light was still good for taking pictures.  He is sweet like that.


I remember our midwife looking over the placenta after Liza's birth and deeming it a healthy specimen that was "all used up".  Liza got exactly what she needed from her nutrition source and when the timing was just right, various hormones kicked in and labor started.  Even though those 9 days past her due date were the longest 9 days of my life, I'm glad she got to decide her birthday.


Henry refers to anything small as "Lila".
He had already deemed this tree "Lila" before it officially became hers.

Like that artsy burlap?
This tree's former life was a Christmas decoration at Anthropologie!


It was Valentine's Day after all......



May the placenta nourish this little tree as it nourished our little baby sister girl in the womb.

8 comments:

Jude and Alisha said...

I'll admit... I thought this post was going to be about peanut butter...

Either way, this is sweet.

Laura @ Our Messy Messy Life said...

still mentally working on that one....

BrownFamily said...

This is awesome! I have a feeling my husband would think I'd gone off the deep end if I suggested this...then again, I'm pretty sure he already thinks that ;)

Mandi @ Living the Good Life said...

love this! and the heart shaped umbilical cord...nice touch.

We planted Tripp's under a blueberry bush at the old house and also planted several other blueberry bushes that day nearby. His is HUGE and very fruitful :) I'm glad Will's dad bought that house so we don't lose the placenta blueberries to strangers. Can't wait to see how Liza's tree grows over the years!

Laura @ Our Messy Messy Life said...

Tripp's blueberry bush really had me wanting blueberries for Liza but a free tree is a free tree!

At least one college kid already let their big dog pee on it so hopefully it doesn't get peed on to death before it has time to put down it's roots.

Mandi @ Living the Good Life said...

rope that baby off or something!

Rebecca said...

When I saw the thumbnail I thought it was going to be a recipe. I love the tree idea. Jonny would definitely think I was crazy if I wanted to plant the placenta. I love symbolism and continuing of life :) Happy growing little Liza tree.

Lindsay said...

I LOVE THIS!! I wish I wasn't so out of it after the birth because I should have kept it. My only issue is that we rent and I didn't want to just plant something here and then move in a year or two. I love this though- so beautiful!!