Burying the Placenta

Heath digging the hole
Placenta in the hole
The marker where it is
Us under the bridge
The hospital labeled my placenta with my name. It was in the freezer the last month.


Okay, I hope this post does not gross anyone out too much. . .

When I was having my c-section, Heath asked to keep the placenta saying that it was an "American tradition". Well, if I had been conscious, we would not have had the thing in our freezer the past month, but he was in charge at that point. Since then we have been wondering what to do with the thing. Every time I would open the freezer for ice I was reminded of my organ hybernating in there. Gross! Heath wanted to get it back to the US, but besides curing it in salt or sending it in a liquid, he could not come up with a solution.

So we were forced to come up with a creative way to leave it in Japan. On Saturday we went to Heath's favorite spot in Japan--the Fushimi River right by his school--and left it in a hole there. I am sure all of our neighbors wondered what we foreigners were up to when we trotted off with a shovel in hand.

Now the piece of flesh that attached Zion to me will forever remain in Japan. Not many people can make the claim of having a "pound of flesh" removed from them and buried as a sentimental gesture!