<<I think ancient Hawaiians buried the placenta by a tree >>

I'd heard of this before I had my first baby -- although can't recall where --
and thought that seemed like a respectful thing to do for something that had
worked so hard, so we saved it. (When I told my doctor I wanted it, he said
without surprise, "Oh, are you going to plant a tree?" He used to live in
Hawaii.) However, we stashed it in the freezer because we were renting a house
and wanted to wait till we had our own. A year later we bought a house but put
off buying the tree because we were going to sod and landscape the backyard,
which was essentially just dirt. A year later, we used the backyard money to
have another baby and added her placenta to the freezer. A year later, gave up
on my Better Homes & Gardens dreams for the backyard and decided to go for the
front yard, so began looking for a tree that would be impossible to kill
because I knew I'd feel terrible if our placenta tree died. Another year
later, discovered that no such tree exists, so my husband finally worked the
placentas into the flower bed, where they won't have to be responsible for one
particular plant (assuming they can still nourish anything after being frozen
for so long!).

Jennifer Herrin, RN, IBCLC
NICU nurse in Tulsa, OK, who now has room for that box of toaster strudel in
her freezer