The girls and I left Portland this morning to begin our long trek back to Las Vegas. We made it all the way through the state, just over 300 miles, and are in Ashland, OR tonight (10.4). My aunt has a house here where she has graciously offered to let us spend a couple of nights. I am excited to have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with a group of local apprentice midwives who want to hear more about the research and purpose behind placenta encapsulation. Then we’ll head out again Saturday morning. I managed to pack all of my gear into my little Saturn Ion, which was no small feat. I think I felt it bottom out a few times when I went over a bump. ha!

Speaking of staying with my aunt, the whole Expo was a total family affair. My mom flew in from Minnesota a couple weeks before we left, then she drove with the girls and I up to Portland. My brother and his family still live in the Portland area, so we were able to let our girls (his two daughters are 10 and 12) play and bond together a bit. I was able to spend time with them this week, after the Expo, and it was really great reconnecting with them. We are close, but as close as you can be when you live 1200 miles apart. Face time is huge, especially for the kids. Now I’m here in Ashland, visiting my aunt, who I haven’t seen since Spring 2006. This Expo has been a wonderful blessing in so many ways.

When I was packing up my booth to leave Sunday night, the awesome ladies in the booth next to me were also packing their things. Their booth had slings from 3 different mama-run, home-based sling sewing businesses, each with their own designs. Heidi and Cozette, from Silly Goose Baby, were so much fun to talk to (when they weren’t slammed with parents checking out their fabulous carriers). As we were finishing taking down our booths, we had a chance to talk a bit more, and Heidi mentioned that I was “very brave” to stand up at an event like that and talk about something as foreign and misunderstood as placenta ingestion. I suppose it does take some measure of guts, but I don’t see myself as brave at all.

I know that there is a simple natural remedy that can help women have an incredible postpartum experience, and really feel great after having a baby. Motherhood is so important, and the anticipation of the birth of a baby is huge – it is all a woman thinks about from the moment she discovers she is pregnant, and sometimes long before then. To have an amazing birth experience, only to feel exhausted, run down, overwhelmed, doubtful of her own abilities as a mother, and weeping at television commercials (and sometimes not even able to leave the house for days)… it is just sad to me. The fact that we have come to accept this as part of the birth and mothering experience is a total disservice to women. I know it does not have to be that way. I know women are meant to feel happy, upbeat, confident, energetic, and recover quickly from the pregnancy and the birth. How can I know that and not share it?

I had a wonderful time at the Expo. So many months of planning went into it that it’s hard to believe it is already over. I had a pretty good reaction, considering this was the first time most people had ever heard about placenta encapsulation. If I could get them to listen for just a couple of minutes, I could see that they realized it made a lot of sense. If I opened minds to the possibility that this epidemic of the “baby blues” is unnecessary, and maybe helped a couple of women avoid that experience, then it was worth it.

It was a lot of fun to meet other women who are huge placenta advocates. There are many others out there who offer some form of placenta encapsulation – many are doulas or midwives who prepare the placenta for their clients. Hearing that they support my efforts to spread this knowledge to a larger audience was very encouraging. I unveiled my plans to launch a training and certification program to create a network of encapsulation specialists trained in the PBi method of encapsulation, and it was received with much enthusiasm. I am excited about that and will be posting more about it soon.

It was quite an experience to be among the biggest names in the natural birthing community. Barbara Harper is amazing woman and has made such advances for women and babies in this country. I had the chance to visit with Cornelia Enning, a major pioneer in the use of placenta for wellness. I hear she will be spearheading a major workshop on placenta in Germany next year, and her book will be translated from German and published later this year. I look forward to reading it. I also spoke with Dr. Sarah Buckley, who also understands the importance of the placenta and its connection to the baby. I bought a copy of her book, Gentle Birth Gentle Mothering, which she was kind enough to sign for me. She also cheerfully posed for a photo with me in the PBi booth.

I also had the opportunity to screen Ricki Lake’s movie, The Business of Being Born. Wow. Ricki Lake did not strike me as a person who would go out on a limb to promote homebirth, midwives, natural birth, or highlight the crisis of medicalized birthing that is happening in our country today. But she has put together an incredible documentary doing just that. This movie is awesome, and presents the information in a non-judgemental way that I think the majority of women in this country will be able to relate to and identify with. Go Ricki!

What an amazing first day. I talked to so many people truly excited that I’m trying to bring the concept of utilizing placenta for postpartum wellness out of the underground and into the mainstream. The energy was wonderful.

I got to meet Dr. Sarah Buckley, whose work and insight I greatly respect. She stopped by to say hello, since she is one of the speakers at the Congress, and we had corresponded previously regarding our mutual placental admiration. I wish we had the chance to talk a bit more, but hopefully the opportunity will present itself before this is over.

Cornelia Enning, a huge pioneer into placenta ingestion, stopped by my booth but I was off checking out some other exhibits and talking to some area midwives. My aunt Roz spoke with her at length however, and she even signed up for the PBi Mailing List, which I thought was really cool. I met her briefly at the party for exhibitors last night, but am sorry I missed her today. She wrote a book, currently being translated from German to English, that I would love to get my hands on.

I got to see the documentary Pregnant in America tonight! And meet the film-makers. How awesome is that? The movie is amazing. Sad, but all very true. When you get an opportunity to see it, please do. I learned a lot, and I know it will be very enlightening to some folks in this country who think our system of birth is acceptable. It is actually really, really sad. Just watch the movie.

Oh, I was on the Channel 2 Portland news yesterday as well. They did a whole 5-minute segment on the concept of placental ingestion. I missed the airings of it, but I hear it was pretty good, and that they presented it as well as can be expected.

It’s been a long day, so I will sign off now. I anticipate tomorrow being a long day as well, although I am very much looking forward to it. People have generally been very receptive to the information, and I hope it at least raises awareness of the value contained within placenta.

We made it to Portland last night. Another 465 miles put our trip at around 1200 miles total. I think we were all ready to get out of the car.

Portland is a gorgeous city. I had forgotten how beautiful it is up here. Tall trees, green everywhere, fresh air. It is incredibly refreshing to be here again.

Tomorrow is Set Up Day for the Congress/Baby Expo. I am excited to get to the Convention Center and put everything together that I’ve been working on for the last four months. I only hope I haven’t forgotten anything major. Other than my dress shoes… with everything to set up, I shall be shoe shopping for something comfortable I can wear – besides my Skechers. Although, honestly, I wish I could just wear them, they’re the most comfortable shoe I’ve had – aside from my Dr. Martens boots. I’ll be going for something a bit more lady-like I suppose.

So I’ll be pretty busy tomorrow getting everything set up for the conference, which starts Friday. If you’ll be in Portland, check out the seminars at the Gentle Birth World Congress, and come say hello to me at my booth at the Baby Expo.

Here’s hoping that Portland loves Placentas!

Oh, I nearly forgot! I just published a whole new facelift to the PBi site. I wanted it to have a fresh new look for its debut at the conference. I hope you like it as much as I do.