 Recently there has been quite a bit of buzz about the safety of placenta encapsulation and if it poses a risk to newborns. In 2018, the largest study of its kind was done by UNLV and Oregon State found that mothers who consumed their placentas passed no harm to their newborns when compared to infants of mothers who chose not to do so. This study reviewed over 23,000 birth records and it found no increased risk in three different areas: • NICU admissions in the first six weeks of life • Neonatal hospitalizations in the first six weeks of life • Neonatal/infant death in the first six weeks of life While this may still remain a controversial topic among medical providers, so many women around the world are experiencing benefits that they attribute to their placenta capsules, including better mood stability, more energy, enhanced milk supply, less anxiety, and overall increased feeling of well-being. While we acknowledge that placenta services may not be for everyone (and that is okay!), there are many women who feel as though these services greatly improved their postpartum experience and are grateful that they were available. We are so thankful for this study confirming the safety of placenta consumption and are hoping that it will help put more people at ease with the process. So, research your specialist to make sure they follow proper safety protocols and enjoy your placenta capsules if you feel as though you may benefit from this service. Click here to read out FAQs Click here to read research surrounding placenta services 
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 Here is our 2018 Mother's Day Sale!
**TWO SPECIALS** Buy one keepsake, get one half off OR buy two keepsakes and get one free *sterling silver keepsakes only and the discounted or free one must be equal or lesser value to the one being purchased (but not the sum total of the two keepsakes if purchasing two). How this will work is you will need to go to www.wisebeginnings.com and add everything you want to your cart and then take a screenshot of that and inbox it to me and I will send you the code for your order. There will only be FIVE of each code available and once they are all used, that's it. This means that there will be four specials running at once. The Mother's Love Pendant, the Embrace Pendant, and now these two for Mother's Day. This special is active from May 10th until 17th of May, leaving it open for exactly one week. But I will try and keep everyone up to date on how many codes are left. What are you thinking about ordering? Free and discounted keepsakes are limited to sterling or stainless steel settings only. Solid 14kt gold is excluded from this sale. UPDATE - There are only 2 buy one get one 50% off codes left and 3 buy two get one free codes.  Saying goodby to Alaska isn't going to be easy.For three years we have made this beautiful state our home. But as with the military life, it is our time to move again. Luckily, we are going back to somewhere we have been before, and somewhere close to my family, so I expect the transition will go a lot more smoothly than it was adjusting to being so far away. With this huge change I wanted to make a blog post that covers everything that is currently going on. We have had a lot of questions, so I thought it would be simple and easy to have a post that anyone can look at to check. Can you still order during the move?YES! Please do! The only difference is that when you order, instead of sending your keepsake item to the address that is usually supplied in the order confirmation, you will notice that there isn't one. During this period, we ask that you hold onto your items until we have our address and are close to moving in. We will be in our new house on June 15th, so until then, it's just a waiting game. However, to reward those who are ordering and are being patient, we have THREE giveaways going on during this period. From March 16th to April 15th, April 16th to May 15th, and May 15th to June 16th, anyone who orders in either of those time periods will be entered to win a $50 store credit for a gift certificate.  Can you still do payment plans during this time period?Also, yes! This is actually the PERFECT time to set up a payment plan. By the time I am settled into my new home, chances are that your payment plan will be completed, or close to it, so it's almost like you didn't have to wait so long. If you would like to set up a payment plan, just email me at sarah@wisebeginnings.com and I would love to talk to you about our options. Will there still be monthly specials going on?You know it! We actually have some amazing specials planned for this time period. We want to make sure that we make up for our absence by suppling you with some pretty fantastic deals. We actually have TWO Specials right now for the month of April. One to celebrate my birthday, and the other just for our usual monthly special.   With that being said, we also want to reward those who have shopped with us before. So we also have a giveaway for you, too! Head on over to our Facebook page to leave a review, and all reviews entered from April 9th until May 30th with also be entered to win a $50 store credit.
Now, where are we moving to? MARYLAND! We will be coming back to Fort Meade Maryland for at least two years. I'm so happy to be moving back near friends and family, but it's always nervous to be moving when you run your own business. Starting back up in a new location is always scary. But honestly, you all do such a great job and spreading the word about our keepsakes, I'm sure it will be a smooth transition. During this time, please be sure to join our V.I.P Group and follow us on Instagram. Feel free to share our page, tag us on social media, or ask anything you want to know. We love being able to help our customers get the perfect keepsake that they have been dreaming of.  I know, I know. It's a little early to be talking about Christmas, but last year we had a lot of sad customers who didn't get their orders in on time for the Holiday rush due to ordering late. So this year I am making a better effort to allow everyone ample ordering time.
If you would like to have a keepsake made for the holidays or want to tell your partner, family members, or anyone about something you have been eyeballing then the deadline to get your orders in is October 30th. After that, I cannot promise that your order will be completed. I have my September Special running right now with rings that come in a variety of sizes and metal finishes. Perfect for ordering for the holidays! There are also some new keychain ideas, urn necklaces, pendants, and more! So make sure you get your order in on time if you would like a gift for the holidays! Warmly, Sarah Artel - Owner and Artist at W.I.S.E  It's that time of the year! Last June, I started offering Keepsake Jewelry in my business. It has been a year filled with learning, growing, and meeting some amazing people who wanted some keepsakes to help tell a story about something they went through. From birth, breastfeeding, and even loss, I have created keepsakes for many people and I cannot wait to grow more this year. To celebrate, I am offering everyone a chance to win a $50 gift certificate! Here are the rules and how to enter. I'm keeping it pretty simple this time. 1 - Join our keepsake group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/wisekeepsake/ 2 - Comment on the giveaway post telling me what you would use your gift certificate for. 3 - For an extra entry, add some friends and tag them (PLEASE ask them first. No one wants to be added to a group without permission) on the giveaway post and you will receive an extra entry for each friend you add. Each separate comment counts as an entry. 4 - On each entry (telling me what you would use your certificate for and adding friends) I will give you a number. At the end of the giveaway on JUNE 15th at NOON AKST, I will disable the comments and run all the entries through a random number generator. I will post who won within one hour of the giveaway ending. In addition to this, between now and the 15th of June, I will have an open discount for 10% off your entire order for keepsakes. Use code CELEBRATE at checkout to redeem. All orders will still contribute towards the Service Dog Fundraiser I am currently running, too.
Keepsake Price ChangesRecently I made some changes to my website that make the ordering process a lot easier on everyone. It has been a huge success and so far everyone is enjoying the new way a lot more. We are also reaching our One Year Anniversary for keepsakes! Incredibly exciting! I wanted to thank you all so much for helping me reach this milestone, and I can't wait to see what comes next. Here at W.I.S.E., we strive for affordable and premium keepsake jewelry. I always wanted to be able to offer this at a price range that is obtainable for everyone. This is something that I will always strive for. With that being said, with the recent updates that have been made, and the rising costs of supplies from my own suppliers, on June 5th you will notice a slight price increase in most of the items in the shop. Nothing incredibly alarming, but enough to cover the increase in things I pay for behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly and keeping everyone as happy as possible. We are also going to be starting a new Monthly Special where a single item will be showcased and on sale for that month. That way you may be able to purchase your favorite item while it is on sale. I do hope that this will not be an inconvenience to anyone and that everyone understands. So if you would like to order anything at the current prices, I would do so now. I'm also thinking of offering payment plans for those who are interested. Placenta Services Price ChangesSummer Sale and Price Changes with placenta services! Save $20 when you register for placenta services from now until September 29th of this year. Coming in October there will be a few changes with prices on encapsulation. We will be celebrating our 3 year anniversary for opening our business to provide placenta services. Over the years we have learned more about the placenta, fine-tuned our services, and have gained so much experience since we first started. Our prices have been the same since the beginning, even though supply costs have risen, we have added more features to our services (mailing coolers to those who pre-register, goodie bags, flavored capsules upon request), but the time has come that our prices reflect the services being offered. October first, our encapsulation prices will be raised to $200 instead of the current price of $175. If you would like to lock in our current rates, please register now. Thank you all so much for choosing W.I.S.E. - Women Informed, Supported & Empowered as your placenta specialist! I appreciate it more than you know.
Service Dog FundraiserDo you know anyone who relies on a service dog? If you do, then you know how important they are to some families. If you don't, then I want to tell you that they can literally be life savers. Especially for children. I have a dear friend who is trying to help raise the money so that her son can get a service dog to help him in his daily life. Peter is a loving, energetic, and happy 4 year old. But he suffers from many allergies that he is constantly at risk of coming into contact with. Peter is also autistic, which means that he has no cognitive ability to understand that there are certain foods that he can't touch or eat without the possibility of anaphylaxis, which he has already experienced a few times in the past few years. Any orders placed between May 15th and July 15th of this year, 25% of the proceeds will be donated to Peter's family so we can help him reach his goal. Don't want to order, but want to help contribute? Please visit their go fund me and you can donate there. Any little bit helps. Go Fund Me https://www.gofundme.com/3esvkaw
 When considering placenta encapsulation, you have to make a few decisions. In addition to the preparation method, you also need to decide if you want to have the placenta prepared in your home, or in the home of your trained specialist. In this blog, we are going to cover the pro and cons of each choice and hopefully make the decision a little easier for you. Often you will hear that one is superior to the other, but here at W.I.S.E, we leave that decision up to you.
As you can see, there are benefits and draw backs to each choice, but it is important to remember that if your specialist is trained and diligent, then they are following universal protocols for sanitation and preparation. Knowing this, we know that it makes each space equally safe. Feel free to ask your specialist questions to make sure they are following all the proper steps to guarantee their safety and the safety of their clients. Don’t know what to ask? Read our blog here.
The bottom line is this: If you don’t think you can trust your specialist to process your placenta outside of your home, then maybe they aren’t the specialist for you. In this type of work, there needs to be some sort of trust; not blind trust, but trusting in yourself to be able to pick the right specialist for you, and the right place for your placenta to be processed. So what do you think? Which would work for your family? Let us know about any experiences you have had in the past or what you think you would like best.  Approximately one in four women experience a miscarriage. I don’t think anyone is every truly prepared for the emotional toll it can take on you, and some women are turning to keepsake artists to help with creating a remembrance piece for their lost child. Shawna was expecting her third child when she was told she lost her baby around 17 weeks pregnant. Two years later, and after the birth of her rainbow baby (and first girl!), she contacted me to help create some keepsakes with some of the extra cremation ashes from her baby. I asked Shawna if she would like to share her thoughts and reasoning behind wanting to have her keepsakes created, and she agreed to answer a few questions for me.  Cremation ashes vary in shape, size, and color. Shawna chose to add a duo-chrome blue/purple pigment to have added to her keepsakes to customize them a little more. What type of keepsake did you order? I ordered several cremation keepsakes. A ring, a necklace and earrings with angel wings, two additional pendants, sphere shaped earrings, and a European bead. What made you want to have this keepsake made? I wanted these keepsakes made because I had a lot of ashes left over from a baby that I miscarried two years ago that didn’t fit in the urn, so I thought it would be nice to have keepsakes made to do something beautiful with the ashes that had been sitting in my closet for the last two years.  What does this keepsake mean to you? These keepsakes mean so much to me because although I only got to hold to hold my baby for a short time, I now can keep a part of my baby close to me always. Do you wear your keepsake, display it, or store it for safe keeping? At this time, I wear the ring all the time, but the other jewelry I only wear when I am away from my baby, because she likes to pull on them. So, those stay put up, but once she is older I will be wearing those more.  It is hard to capture the beauty of these keepsakes in photos. While I know these keepsakes will not stop the heartache that comes with losing a child, I do hope that they will help ease the pain.
 When it comes to placenta encapsulation, you wouldn’t believe some of things I have heard. Some good and true, but some just simply false and I’m not entirely sure how they got started. In this blog, I am going to go over some of the most common myths that I hear when it comes to this service and why they are untrue. 1. I can’t take my placenta home from the hospital. I have had people talk about how placenta encapsulation isn’t an option for them because they are having a hospital birth and doctors don’t allow the placenta to be taken home. While it is rare, there are a select few hospitals that make you jump through hoops to take your placenta home. However, most of the time it’s as easy as just letting your care provider know you would like to keep it and then they package it up for you. Otherwise they generally discard it, or put chemicals on it that make it unfit for consumption. Sometimes they will not be able to release your placenta due to infection or other reasons that make it unsafe to encapsulate, and other times hospitals may have a policy that require the placenta to be taken to pathology for testing, but you can request that they only take a small piece so you can keep the rest for encapsulation. Talk with your care provider beforehand to make sure they are aware that you want to keep it, and see if they have any specific policy in place for your specialist. 2. It is only safe to have my placenta encapsulated in my own home. False. This is a new one that I’ve been hearing. Placenta encapsulation is safe if the workspace is clean, disinfected and proper protocols are followed. This is why it is important to make sure that your placenta specialist is the right fit for you and has been trained in preparing in either your home, or their workspace. Ask the right questions to ensure that they are doing all the proper things and making this a safe process not only for you, but for the rest of their clients as well. You can check my blog about questions to ask your placenta specialist here. From not wanting to explain it to visitors, having a stranger in their home for hours, or even just not wanting the smell that comes with it, sometimes people don’t want the hassle of having it prepared in their home, and that is 100% okay. You should have the choice about where you want your placenta processed. So, interview some specialists and make sure you find the right one for you. 3. Placenta encapsulation is a fad only for “crunchy” parents. I would say it’s more for anyone who wants to take extra care of themselves after having a baby. While it is considered a more “natural” type of thing, you will find people of all types participating in this practice. From celebrities like Kim and Kourtney Kardashian, to everyday people like you and me, moms who want to reap the benefits of placenta encapsulation require no labels to have this done for them. This is also hardly a new fad. Placenta encapsulation has been around for thousands of years in the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine. 4. I can’t take pills, so I can’t do placenta encapsulation. Luckily there are so many ways to have your placenta processed! Some of the options include: smoothies, tinctures, and even just having the powder in a jar so you can add to your own smoothies. There are countless ways to use the powder. Some even make chocolate truffles that are so delicious that you would never guess that placenta was an ingredient! Ask your placenta specialist about everything they offer and you may just be pleasantly surprised.  5. I’m doing cord blood banking so I can’t keep my placenta.
Cord blood banking is an awesome thing to participate in, and the good news is that it doesn’t hinder your ability to take your placenta home. With cord blood banking, the cord is “milked” of the remaining blood, and this can be done in the room so there isn’t a chance of your placenta being mishandled. After that, you can just have it packaged up and then it is ready for your specialist! 6. Placenta encapsulation is cannibalism! This was actually my husband’s response when I first told him I wanted to encapsulate my placenta after the birth of our second child. However, encapsulation doesn’t meet the definition of cannibalism. noun 1. the eating of human flesh by another human being. 2. the eating of the flesh of an animal by another animal of its own kind. 3. the ceremonial eating of human flesh or parts of the human body for magical or religious purposes, as to acquire the power or skill of a person recently killed. So, since no one is being killed and you aren’t eating the flesh of another person, this isn’t comparable. 7. Placenta pills are a magic, cure all for the postpartum period! Oh, how I wish this was true! While some people may attribute their amazing recovery to the pills, the fact remains that these pills won’t work the same for every woman. For some, their recovery will be faster, their milk supply supple, and their hormones will be more stable, leading to less mood swings. For others, they will barely notice a difference, or their pills will make them anxious and jittery. I’ve been doing this for two years and I will say that only one of my clients has ever said they didn’t notice a difference, but I would hate for anyone to go into this process thinking that it will “cure” them of postpartum depression and fatigue. The odds are in your favor of at least one benefit, but results vary from woman to woman. Have you heard any crazy things about placenta encapsulation? While these aren’t all of them, they are the most common. Let us know in the comments down below!  If you decide, like many others before you, to hire a trained specialist for your placenta encapsulation, it can be a little daunting to know how to hire the right one. Where do I find one? How do I know I can trust them? After all, you only get one shot at getting this done right, so you want to make sure that it is, in fact, done right. So if you are wondering about how to hire a specialist and want tips for making sure they are a good fit for you, just keep reading our “questions to ask your placenta specialist.” 
These are just some of the questions that you may want to ask when looking to hire the right specialist for you. So make a list and be prepared when interviewing. Ask around and see if anyone has one they recommend. There is a great site called FindPlacentaEncapsulation.com where you can look up specialists in your area. Check and see if they have any reviews on a Facebook page or website. Don't be afraid to look around. You only get one placenta after your birth, make sure you trust your specialist.
 In a previous blog, I talked about some of the reasons why some people decide to have their placenta encapsulated. After deciding if it is something you want to pursue or not, the next thing you may need to decide is whether you should hire someone or try doing it yourself. Even as a trained specialist who gets paid by doing this for other people, I recognize that there are pros and cons to each side. You just have to determine what it is best for you. So let's just jump into it!
 As you can see, it all really just depends on what you want, and the availability of a trained specialist in your area. If doing it yourself is something you are interested in, then go for it! Do some research on proper protocols and make sure you have adequate help with the baby so you don't feel rushed. Between cleaning, prepping, processing, and cleaning again, you are looking at anywhere from 3-4 hours (not including the time it takes to dehydrate). Or maybe you will get lucky and your partner will be willing to do all the work for you. Now you may be looking at the Cons of hiring a specialist and you see "the possibility or hiring an untrustworthy specialist" and your eyes are probably doubling in size. Unfortunately, it does happen and it's a risk that you need to be aware of. So, in a future blog I will be discussing how to hire a specialist and questions to ask. I've had a few different postpartum experiences regarding my decisions about placenta encapsulation. With my first child, I decided not to encapsulate my placenta. It was still new to me and to be honest, I thought it was pretty gross. I ended up having a harder postpartum experience than expected and I ended up regretting not having it done. Do I know for sure that it would have helped? No. But I would have been willing to try anything to make it better the next time. So, with my second child I decided to give it a shot and I paid my doula, who was a trained specialist, to encapsulate for me. My experience with it was so great that I decided to get certified so I could also offer this service to women in my area. After the birth of my third child, I decided to go ahead with encapsulation again, but do it myself this time since I am certified and trained. I figured I would be able to save some money and make sure it was done right. And to be honest - I fully regret going the DIY route. Not because I messed up or wasn't qualified, but because it was the last thing I wanted to be doing. I should have been resting and bonding with my baby, but instead I was stressing about trying to keep him content and taking frequent breastfeeding breaks while also trying to keep a clean and organized workspace. I ended up putting it off until the very last minute and I almost just put the placenta in the freezer to do at a later date. Although I am done having kids (knock on wood), I would hire a specialist if I ever had more. The peace of mind that it is in good hands and that I can relax, recover, and bond with my new baby is worth it to me. However, I would never tell someone that she shouldn't have the right to do it herself, if that's what she wanted to do. So what do you think? Have you had your placenta encapsulated and chose the DIY route? Or did you hire a trained professional that you trusted? I love to hear about your experiences, so leave them in the comments!  |
AuthorSarah is a work at home mom with three beautiful boys, two dogs, and a loving husband. She is a certified childbirth educator, placenta specialist, and creates custom, high quality keepsakes made from breastmilk, placenta powder, cremation ashes, and so much more. Archives
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