Thank you for choosing Red Tree Birth to encapsulate your placenta.

The following are some guidelines for handling your placenta and your service with me.

If you booked services more than 2 weeks before your due date, you will be receiving a transportation kit in the mail. Included in this kit:

  • insulated cooler bag
  • bag for placenta
  • bags for ice
  • instructions

This kit allows for easy storage and pickup of your placenta. Place the kit in your birth bag for the hospital or birth center, or place with your home birth supplies. On the big day, simply follow the instruction in your kit!

General pick up hours:

If you are ready for pick up during general pick up hours, please CALL for pick up. If it is outside general pick up hours, please TEXT.

Monday through Friday:

  • 10am – 10pm (note: pick ups generally do not occur between 3pm and 7pm due to Bay Area traffic)

Saturday:

  • 8am – 11pm

Sunday:

  • 12pm – 10pm

The following information applies to a hospital birth:

Please inform the hospital upon admission that you will be taking your placenta home with you. There will be a simple release form for you to sign. Remind your provider and staff you will be taking it home at the time of delivery.

**IMPORTANT** If a provider would like to send the placenta to pathology, ask that the lab remove a portion of the placenta in your room and take it for testing. This is often possible, but you may have to advocate very strongly for this. Then the rest can still be encapsulated. If the entire placenta is sent to pathology, it is no longer suitable for encapsulation. If you develop an infection in the placenta or membranes during labor, or your baby has an infection at birth or immidaitely afterwards, the placenta is no longer suitable for encapsulation.

If you are booking last minute, or if labor happens earlier than expected, these are the items you will need to take with you:

  • ice chest, insulated cooler bag, or disposable foam cooler large enough to fit several gallon size ziplock bags
  • 4 freezer strength, gallon size ziplock bags

Instructions:

  • Place the placenta in a ziplock bag and place this into a second ziplock bag to prevent leaks.
  • Place this bag between 2 bags filled with ice in ice chest or cooler bag.
  • Call or text 925-787-5116 for pick up!

**IMPORTANT** Please place placenta in cooler or transportation kit within 1 hour of delivery. Pick up will be within 24 hours. Please check ice levels to ensure it has not melted until pick up has occurred.

A few Bay Area hospitals request that the placenta leave the hospital before you are transferred to a postpartum room. This is not always enforced, and some clients successfully advocate to keep the placenta with them. Every effort will be made to pick up the placenta within this time frame, but pick up is only guaranteed within 24 hours. Pick ups also generally do not occur in the middle of the night or during high traffic hours. You can have a friend or family member take the placenta home and pick up can be arranged there. Or, some clients have simply taken the cooler to the car and placed it in another bag and brought it back up to the room.

The following information applies to a home birth:

If you are booking last minute, or if labor happens earlier than expected:

  • Place placenta in a freezer strength, gallon sized, ziplock bag and place this into another ziplock bag to prevent leaks.
  • If you do not have ziplock bags, place placenta in any food grade container with a well fitting lid.
  • Place placenta in refrigerator or into a cooler with plenty of ice both above and below placenta.
  • Call or text 925-787-5116 to arrange for pick up!

Note about refrigerators: Home refrigerators can fluctuate in temperature. It is very important that your placenta stay below 40 degrees F. If you are concerned about the temperature inside your refrigerator, use the ice chest method for storage until pick up, or place into the freezer. Placing the placenta in the freezer may delay encapsulation by 24-48 hours to allow for safe thawing.

Placenta needs to be on ice or refrigerated with 1 hour of delivery. Pick up will happen within 24 hours.

In the event of a transfer to the hospital, please see the instructions above.

The following information applies to birth center births:

Inform your provider you will be taking your placenta home.

If you are booking last minute, or if labor happens earlier than expected, these are the items you will need to take with you:

  • ice chest, insulated cooler bag, or disposable foam cooler large enough to fit several gallon size ziplock bags
  • 4 freezer strength, gallon size ziplock bags

Instructions:

  • Place the placenta in a ziplock bag and place this into a second ziplock bag to prevent leaks.
  • Place this bag between 2 bags filled with ice in ice chest or cooler bag.
  • Call or text 925-787-5116 for pick up!

**IMPORTANT** Please place placenta in cooler or transportation kit within 1 hour of delivery. Pick up may occur at the birth center, or you may need to transport it home. Pick up will be within 24 hours. Please check ice levels to ensure it has not melted until pick up has occurred.

In the event of a transfer to the hospital, please see the instructions above.