Lotus birth

A lotus birth is when the umbilical cord is left attached to the placenta until it falls off on its own.

With my first son we did a full lotus birth and the cord fell off after 3 days (thanks to it dropping on the floor during a fire alarm). It was easy, I did however learn a few things.
1-salt the placenta heavily within a few hours. We didn't salt the first one until the 3rd day, but did use lavender the 2nd day, it smelled like rotten meat on the 3rd day.
2-encapsulating the placenta is possible with a lotus birth.
3-long cords are much easier than short ones. J had a long cord, so carrying his placenta around was no big deal, we wrapped it in cloth diapers, in a Tupperware, usually leaving it on a stool next to us. D had a very short cord, we did what I describe below (salting and putting it in a cooler on ice), however after 1 day It became an issue, so we cut the cord, it was already clamped naturally. I dont know for sure if the cord would have fallen off sooner than 9 days, as J was aired out the whole time and D was wrapped up so not aired at the belly, and the fire alarm incident. Also the morning after D and I got the proper latch (breastfeeding issues) his cord fell. Coincidence?
4-airing out the cord at the belly will dry it up faster
5-don't try to make it come out any faster than it will on it's own, cut or not.
6-be prepared to not leave the house until the cord falls.
7-wash the cord at the belly with warm water and a wash cloth as needed. We washed Ds 3 times. Js we never did.
8-in the first 24 hrs the cord will naturally clamp itself, and become thin hard and wire-like. This will make it more difficult to move the baby around, and will cause tugging.
9-with j being 4 at the time of Ds birth the cord got pulled on a lot, even D was pulling on it. Which is another reason why I'm glad we cut it after a day.

Benefits of lotus birth:
Baby continues to get nutrients from the placenta (until it clamps up naturally)
No concern about cutting the cord an possible infection from it.
No need to treat the cord, as is done with a cut cord.

Placenta smoothie: I did this with ds placenta after 4 hours.
Cut a thumb sized piece of placenta (remove membrane).
Mix in blender with coconut milk, bananas and strawberries.
I honestly didn't taste it. It was a great smoothie!
I read that of the placenta is digested within 24 hours the mother will get the full vitamins and hormones, after that they greatly decrease. A natural pitocin is still present the first 24 hours, which will help with bleeding and hemmorage.

Preparing placenta during lotus birth:
To do this, wash the placenta within the first few hours after birth. Removing the blood clots, allow it to drain using a colander over a bucket. Use one ziplock gallon size freezer bag, put alot of kosher salt on the bottom, put the placenta in the bag and cover with more salt. Then put that in another bag, close loosely. Place the bag inside a cooler with one ice pack under and one on top of it. Close the cooler loosely. Wash, drain and salt with clean bags and salt every 24 hours. Change the Ice packs as needed to keep the placenta cool.

To encapsulate the placenta:
Wash it, remove all blood clots, and cut the cord at the base of the placenta.
In a vegetable steamer boil water with lemon and ginger, steam the placenta for 15 min on each side.
Cut into as thin strips as possible and in place in a wax paper lined dehydrator. Dehydrate for 8 hours or until it is dry, will look like jerky.
Powder it using a food processor. Mine came out like tiny pebbles in powder.
Fill veggie capsules with it, either by hand or using a filler. Can be combined with other herbs, supplements, I didn't though.
I take 3 capsules 2 times a day, for 2 weeks and then only when needed, such as when feeling run down. Also I will be keeping what is left over for menopause. Store in dark container in fridge, can be stored this way indefinitely.

I found that taking the placenta pills makes a big difference in my energy and healing. I'm thankful that I figured out how to keep the placenta fresh even when doing a lotus birth.