Episode 19 - Sarah Ferguson: Everything You Need to know about Placenta Encapsulation
If you’ve ever had questions about the benefits of using your placenta - and the ways to do it - look no further than this conversation with birth worker and health educator Sarah Ferguson. You will guaranteed walk away with an appreciation for the utter magic of this organ, and a clear place to start if you’re considering encapsulating your placenta.
[ID: A beige background and orange semi-circle. Text reads: The Intersectional Fertility Podcast Episode 19: Sarah Ferguson @birthingtheblock and Josie Rodriguez-Bouchier @intersectionalfertility.]
Sarah is a birth worker, reproductive health educator, community organizer, and Head of Education at the School of Reproductive Resistance. Their work centers on abortions and pregnancy conclusions from an interdisciplinary and harm-reductive framework.
Visit her website and follow her on Instagram. Their cashapp and Venmo is @birthingtheblock.
Episode Transcript:
Disclaimer: This is an automatically generated transcript edited to be more readable. It may not be 100% accurate.
[00:00:00] Josie: I'm Josie Rodriguez-Bouchier, and this is the Intersectional Fertility Podcast where ideas and identities intersect to deepen our understanding of fertility and ultimately our whole selves.
[00:00:23] Sarah Ferguson, She/they, is a birth worker, reproductive health educator, community organizer, student midwife, and the head of education at the School of Reproductive Resistance. She draws on her hands-on work with birthing people to create spaces and care models dedicated to addressing all pregnancy outcomes. Her work centers on abortions and pregnancy conclusions from an interdisciplinary and harm reductive framework.
[00:01:01] All right, Welcome Sarah to the podcast. Thank you so much for being here today.
[00:01:06] Sarah: Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited.
[00:01:08] Josie: Yay, so will you share with us your pronouns and where in the world you're joining us today?
[00:01:15] Sarah: Of course. So my pronouns are she and they, and I am calling you from Los Angeles, California, also known as Tongva Land, and I'm super excited to be here.
[00:01:28] Josie: Awesome, so I would love to know just how you became interested in birth work, how you ended up becoming a placenta artist, I love that word. And what that means to you.
[00:01:40] Sarah: No, absolutely. So it's actually a funny story, how I became a birth worker. It was just the divorce between me and capitalism was, was, was like really, like I did six weeks in corporate and we both looked at each other.
[00:01:51] At the end of probation we were like, You're not good for me and I'm not good for you, and like, that's okay and we can agree to disagree. I actually got exposed to birth work in college. I, there were, there was a panel of Black doulas that came to my class and I was, I had always wanted to be a doula. I didn't realize it could be a job and that you could eat this way, even though I'm pushing it, am I eating every day?
[00:02:16] And I like fell in love with it, and corporate didn't let me stay, but birth work has, and I just have agreed to stay where I'm allowed to stay. I love being a birth worker. I'm enjoying transitioning into being a student midwife. Placentas, I'm just, just a weird girl. I like organs.
[00:02:35] One of my first mentors was a placenta encapsulator. It was just such a beautiful process and like, I was intrigued, and I realized it was something that I was good at. Yeah. And it was something that I could like do relatively quickly and I just enjoy it. I feel like it's a very specific brand of work.
[00:03:00] You know, like. I'm the person at the hospital with like a cooler in their hand. Super excited. I'm gonna come in and say hi to you because you're, you're tired, but I'm gonna run out of this door with this organ and I'll see you in 24 hours for a longer conversation, yeah.
[00:03:15] Josie: I love that, that's so cool.
[00:03:19] So do you, what I'm understanding is like a placenta artist is one that knows how to do the encapsulation process.
[00:03:28] Sarah: Yes. Like there's so many, yes, exactly. I do the whole thing. Like if you want a smoothie, I'll give you a smoothie. If you want a raw piece, I'll give you a raw piece. If you want a tincture, I'll give you a tincture. I feel like, you know, yeah.
[00:03:40] Josie: So you can do smoothies, like placenta smoothies?
[00:03:43] Sarah: Yeah. So literally that's like one of my favorite things to do. People call you and they're like, Hey, can you throw this in the blender? And I'm like, Of course.
[00:03:52] Josie: Oh my gosh. Wow.
[00:03:54] Sarah: You know, a little, some strawberries and some ginger. You never know it was there. I have like never heard any taste complaint for my clients, and I'm very proud of that. I've never tasted my own products. So this is all like faith based for me.
[00:04:11] Josie: Oh, that's fascinating. I've never heard of that. I've only heard of the encapsulation.
[00:04:15] Sarah: Oh, it gets like real, I mean it's so I think we've like overcomplicated sentence, It's just the human piece of meat. It's like no more complicated than your steak. You just happen to make it. That's it. I like tell all of my like encapsulation students. I'm like, Please do not overthink this. This is a piece of meat. It's just generated. It's just a piece of meat, just throw it in the pot.
[00:04:44] Does it look done? Yes. Did you stick a thermometer in it? Yes. Okay. So, let's move on to the next step.
[00:04:50] Josie: Right? Oh my gosh, that's so interesting. So before we get too far into the placenta conversation, will you explain what a placenta is for folks who don't know?
[00:05:00] Sarah: Yes. So I'm like always like trying to like go grab the placenta and like, "hi, the plate is here." So a placenta is an organ. It is everybody's first home. It's the only rent free place in the whole universe.
[00:05:16] So birthing people make placentas. The average placenta I always like to tell people is like the size of like a dinner plate, right? Which is why we are so aggressive about postpartum folk having a seat because you have a wound. The size of a plate internally in your body and we're like working with you to have a seat.
[00:05:35] And if it was on the outside, you would be whining and crying about I shouldn't be moving. And we're like, yeah we've been telling you that.
[00:05:42] Josie: Right. Wow. That's a good visual.
[00:05:45] Sarah: Yeah. I'm like, if I have to say it to you for you to understand we can do that.
[00:05:52] Josie: Right, right. So that's a lot of, that's a lot of healing to heal from such a, a big wound.
[00:05:57] Sarah: Exactly. I'm like, do you think you should be out of bed? Why? Why? What is this need? Cause you have this big old wound. Yeah.
[00:06:05] Josie: Right. Wow, that's, Yeah, I never thought of it that way. So after you deliver the baby, then you deliver the placenta, right?
[00:06:14] Sarah: Yes, they're separate. Babies are great, but like, I as like a student midwife are always like, interested is like what side of the placenta comes out first.
[00:06:22] So the fetal side, is it the maternal side? Placenta, they're just fascinating, but that. Most people really, unless you're placenta, it's retained for some reason. They never really. Notice, most people describe it as like a blob falling out because you just had this big old, anywhere from five to 10 pound baby come out of you. It's all, you know, small talk in comparison.
[00:06:43] Josie: Right. So how much does a placenta weigh? Typically.
[00:06:48] Sarah: So it varies from placenta to a placenta, Right. And so like, generally like without fluids, like we can say anywhere from one to three pounds. But there's such a wide number range. It's in that family of things.
[00:07:07] Josie: Okay. Okay. So yeah, I can see how it would seem much less of a big deal than delivering the baby .
[00:07:15] Sarah: Oh yeah. It's, it is not a big deal at all. Everybody's like, Oh, we did it. Correct. Yeah. I mean, and also placenta anatomy is gonna vary depending on like if you had many children are present, how many children were present what kind of birth this was like, they're always so fascinating.
[00:07:33] They tell such a. Interesting story. Some people have two, you got twins, some people have three if you have triplets, yeah. So it gets a totally and complicated, and it's always fun to be like, Well, what is this?
[00:07:45] Josie: Yeah. So how do they differ?
[00:07:47] Sarah: So there's like a variation of like placenta anatomy I mean like the cords can be in different locations. Like there's just so many things. Our main thing is are there three blood vessels in the cord? And like if yes, we can keep going. If no, let's regroup and figure stuff out. And I feel like they're like snowflakes and sounds super corny. It varies from individual to individual.
[00:08:11] Like some of them are fatter than other. Like they're just like people, right? Like you know, different sizes, different, they're different dimensions and they have like the same general shape, but just like people, a lot of variation in that like range of normal.
[00:08:27] Josie: Wow, that's so cool. I always think of that makes me think of when I was in acupuncture school, learning about tongues, looking at different people's tongues, and I thought when I, when I first learned, I thought, aren't all tongues the same?
[00:08:45] Sarah: Anything on a human? I just realized there's nothing on the human body that comes in duplicate.
[00:08:51] Josie: Exactly, exactly.
[00:08:53] Sarah: It's like there's no, there's no triple form for human life. It's just a little different is the same thing.
[00:08:59] Josie: And I'm wondering, so going back to the preparation, so you can do a smoothie, you can do capsules, and then how do you do a tincture?
[00:09:07] Sarah: So again like. People make this way more complicated than what it is. It's literally like a chunk of placenta and over proof alcohol and time does the gig for you. Once your baby is like six weeks, six to eight, depending on like what type of alcohol you and all of those things, depending on what your inoculator tells you, shake the bottle so often when you remember cuz you really shouldn't be out the bed. But when you decide to go to the refrigerator and not follow orders, just remember to shake it.
[00:09:35] Josie: Okay, okay, yeah. Interesting. That's so cool.
[00:09:38] Sarah: Yeah. I love tinctures because they're good until they're gone.
[00:09:43] Josie: Do those stay good longer than everything else?
[00:09:46] Sarah: Well, it's not that they stay good longer, it's just that you're more likely to have it longer. Most people are like, Give me my pills immediately. Let me take them all. But tinctures are good until it's gone. I always tell people like, if you're a birthing person, hold on to this until like menopause or like any hormonal changes that you expect in this life cycle. Your placenta tincture is good for that.
[00:10:11] Josie: Oh wow. That is so cool. Yeah. When I was, so I had both my placenta encapsulated with Chinese herbs mixed in. With them. And I noticed a huge difference and my doula at the time had told me to hang onto it for major transitions or milestones that my kids would reach.
[00:10:33] Especially ones that I would have an emotional reaction to or feel, maybe it would be a difficult transition for me, like weaning off of chest feeding o f first day of kindergarten or first day of preschool type stuff. Which I was like, Oh, wow, I didn't know I could do that. And then, but I've never heard it to save all the way till menopause.
[00:10:54] Sarah: No, listen, if you can hold onto it that long, if you're like, I don't plan on like, making that many moves, and if you do, please put this in the front seat of the Uhaul. You know, like hold onto it. Right? Cause I think we forget that there are so many milestones.
[00:11:09] And like also like if you have a child that's also a birthing person. Like let's give this to you too. Wow. You used to sit in it, this used to be your house. Our. Okay. Our creation. Yeah. I just, I think we have a like being like cyclical people, we just have a lifetime full of cycles that we have to navigate. And like if you have an organ that's designed to help you through that, let's just hold onto it.
[00:11:45] Josie: Wow. So you think the placenta's designed to help us through transitions?
[00:11:51] Sarah: I think in the way that, like we've learned to use it, right? Like I think most mammals eat their placenta so that they don't know that they're young or like out and about.
[00:12:02] I think humans are like clever. Well I think we think we're clever. And you've like figured out a way to make this useful to us. Cause like we're not like an imminent threat of like a tiger coming to eat it. But like you are in imminent danger of capitalism, getting you back to work in 70 days or 40 days. How many ever days you have.
[00:12:24] Josie: Totally. That's our tiger. Exactly.
[00:12:26] Sarah: So like I think that we should do it all together.
[00:12:30] Josie: Right, Right. Oh, that's interesting. So mammals eat their placenta so that they're not basically like food for prey.
[00:12:39] Sarah: Yeah. Cause I mean, like at the end of the day, like, yes, the placenta, it's a piece of meat. It's bloody, It smells like you. It smells like baby. All of your predators, all of your enemies know exactly what you did. Oh, you just did a thing like, where are you? It like puts like a smoke signal in outside, like, you know, Right. Leave that out there.
[00:13:02] Josie: Interesting. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. And do you think, cuz from a Chinese medicine perspective, eating the placenta helps to replenish the blood loss. Do you feel that, in addition to that, do you feel like it helps with like mental health?
[00:13:17] Sarah: Yeah, I absolutely, unfortunately the FDA only does so much, right? So like, unfortunately, and fortunately, all of our like placental information for the most part is anecdotal. Right. And so like you actually don't know if there's like a chemical phenomenon outside of like the placebo effect, right?
[00:13:36] Like all of my clients say they feel better, they feel better. Like I don't have like a, this is like what enzyme and the people feel better. And like I have say, I really don't care what it is. If you feel good. Yeah. You know, like I do, I need to know all of this. No. Ok. If 90% of my clients are like, Yeah, I feel relief and like balanced.
[00:13:59] That's really all I need know. I would love to know one day I would love for a research team to do it. I'm not gonna do it, but somebody with a budget and stipend, tell us exactly what is, But I'm also okay with it just being belief. Like if it's really a magic pill. Okay. You know, like, okay, , is that really?
[00:14:19] Josie: Yeah. If it works, it works.
[00:14:21] Sarah: Right. Is it really so bad, like we take birth control with the whole list of sugar pills like. Is it really that bad if it works?
[00:14:30] Josie: Totally, Totally. Oh, that's awesome. Okay, so what are some of the risks? I know we've talked, talked about a lot of the kind of anecdotal benefits, but are there any risks?
[00:14:40] Sarah: Absolutely. I mean, so again, it's a piece of meat in the same way, like chicken has to salmonella. Like if this thing is like improperly prepared, it can absolutely make you sick. And I tell people like sanitation and protocol is important in this process. There are very few contraindications to placenta encapsulation.
[00:14:59] Right. You would know what they are. So like if you catch a fever in labor, if you have a communicable disease, like those are things that'll take you out. Right. But you would, if you have a decent provider, and I hope that you hope everybody does. Yeah. You know, I'm very aware that that's not always readily available.
[00:15:20] Somebody should tell you if you have an infection in labor, like you would have a fever, Like there would be some sort of like discourse in the birth setting around that. I would hope that. You know, again, not saying it doesn't happen, I'm just saying I would hope that somebody like wave their hand like, hey.
[00:15:39] But typically they would stop you and say, Hey, even if you ask to take it home, they would be like, You can't take it home. You had an infection or you have a disease that we didn't know about before. Outside of that, you're fine. Even there's like this very popular bacteria that like most birthing people in the US is tested for, it's called group beta strip. Street name GBS.
[00:15:59] And everybody is like, I'm GBS positive and I can't get it encapsulated. And I'm like, that's not true. I feel like a good, like a quarter of the population test positive for it, It's fine. You just need to make sure that you're placenta is steamed, and that you use a proper method that is compatible with that bacteria.
[00:16:17] Process it. But there are very few contraindications. Risk. I mean, I feel like most of the risk comes from ill proper preparation. As long as it's like, Encapsulated and processed correctly, it's fine. I feel like most encapsulators say this, if you get sick, stop taking it.
[00:16:39] Right? Cause like we unfortunately, like, we can't like source it to anything. So like if you get sick and you stop taking it and you get better, like let's use deductive different reasoning here and say that maybe this doesn't work for you. Which is fine. And I'm always about, let's err on the side of caution.
[00:16:56] Josie: Totally, yeah.
[00:16:58] Sarah: If you have like some rampant infection in your body, maybe this isn't the time for that. But if you're like, I cough the infection in as no correlation to these pills, I would like to continue to take my pills. Of course you are a creature of free will.
[00:17:10] Josie: Right, right. Totally. Okay, that's good to know. Yeah. And I was gonna ask you like, what do folks need to know if they want to go about having their placenta encapsulated to make sure that they're doing it correctly or like, maybe things to know about, like what kind of person would be able to do this for them, maybe like credentials to look for? What do you have to say about that?
[00:17:37] Sarah: So I mean, I have like feelings about birth work certification as everybody in community knows. I think, well, first things I think it put, I think placenta encapsulation is accessible to most folks. Most people are eligible to have their placenta taken home.
[00:17:57] I tell everybody, even if you don't have an encapsulator today, just take your placenta home. Cause you have up to your, it's a piece of meat. You can leave it in the freezer. As long as nobody touches it, or throws it in a pot, it's fine. Just take your placenta home. You have time to find an encapsulator.
[00:18:13] It's really important, I mean in all birth settings, you need to notify the birth team, Hey, our intention is to keep our placenta. Please do not take it to the lab or throw it away, or whatever their protocol is around placentas in that facility. Cause most places have like a disposal protocol as they should because most people are not asking to take home their organ. And they have to account for that.
[00:18:37] So like every nurse, if you're in a hospital, every seven o'clock, every nurse shift change. Hey, my name is blank. This is my plan. The placenta stays with us. Really being on folks about that because there's so many things going on in like the birth and like, again, like the placenta is like, one of the last things.
[00:19:02] After, like we're processing the placenta, we're trying to do these newborn exams, we're trying to move through things very quickly. And that is something that can easily get lost in translation. And just the fast pacedness of the room itself. So it's really important whether you're at home, hospital, birth center, wherever you are, if that's your plan.
[00:19:19] Like you need to make sure your team is aware. I always rec, you know, cuz not everybody likes to let these organs go of free will, you know? So like you do need to be prepared to advocate for yourself and also like have your own storage materials ready. Cause that's like one way that they'll be like, Well you can't take the home cause you don't have, Okay, well the cooler's right here now what are you saying?
[00:19:43] You do have to be prepared depending on where you are to call people's cards and be like, No, we have our own cooler. It doesn't need to be fancy. I tell people there are these hot and cold bags that are like $2 from like Walmart or like just the grocery store.
[00:19:59] I have a cooler named coolio because this is my job. But you could absolutely get away with the hot and cold bag, just ice. Most birthing facilities have ice because that's all they plan on feeding you. So you just demand. Your four rations of ice to throw it in the bag. Right. Yeah. Like it's a piece of meat. Don't, don't overthink it too much. It hard not to. They don't do it
[00:20:29] Josie: Yeah, cuz I remember I had to bring a cooler, or my doula had told me to bring a cooler and put my name on it. And we had to notify everybody all the time that's what we were doing. Twice and three times. So do you, are all doulas trained to know how to encapsulate or to preserve placentas?
[00:20:51] Sarah: No, not at all. I'm bringing a very particular community. And so like most of us know how to do multiple things. But no, this is not like a standard, my doula does this. So it's really important that you ask folks. It just is what they do. Also some people are like, Yeah, I don't want my house to smell like this. Fair enough. No, you cannot come this much home with me. Like that is some people's politics, which is fine. Right. So it is important and like also I've had clients where I am not their doula.
[00:21:25] I'm just their encapsulator and yeah. It doesn't need to be all the same people. It's nice if I'm your doula and your encapsulator because I'm already at the hospital, gonna grab our little organ and I'm gonna go home and I'll see you in 24 to 48 hours.
[00:21:39] Josie: Do you have to find someone who knows how to do it to train you?
[00:21:43] Sarah: Well actually I'm teaching a training in December, so if you're in Los Angeles and you would like to learn how to encapsulate, like in my bio. I got lucky. I mean, there are formal trainings Again, I have feelings about that.
[00:21:58] Josie: What are your feelings about that? I wanna know.
[00:22:02] Sarah: The birth worker complex is just getting more and more elaborate and more and more problematic, and I'm just like, ok. I just think about like backend barriers around like certification and who gets left out and who, who doesn't. Yeah.
[00:22:19] Josie: Like it's becoming like too many gatekeepers around birth work.
[00:22:21] Sarah: Yes. Yeah. It's, it's definitely that. I always like to rely on like BIPOC community teachers and educators.
[00:22:30] Josie: Yep. Yeah, for sure. And do you, will you ever do virtual trainings?
[00:22:38] Sarah: This one is technically gonna be recorded, so yes, I guess I can. I feel like I'm adjusting to like being a virtual educator, even though we've been in this pandemic for almost two years. I'm still like, I dunno if I have a hang of this yet, but I just need to just do it. So, yes. Thank you for asking.
[00:23:00] Josie: Cool. So it'll be in LA and it'll be recorded. So then it might be online, maybe.
[00:23:07] Sarah: I'm gonna push myself to do that.
[00:23:10] Josie: Cool. Okay. So we went over benefits and risks. What folks need to know in order to do it, have it done correctly, and who to look for. Nice. Okay.
[00:23:20] And do you have any sort of tips or advice especially for queer BIPOC and especially like queer, trans and non-binary BIPOC Who's in my audience and who my program support and stuff. Any tips for them to advocate for themselves, protect themselves in medical settings? Either like throughout the fertility journey, or pregnancy or postpartum, any part of it.
[00:23:46] Sarah: Absolutely. I think for me, and I goes for like birthing people across the board, And growing families in general, you don't need to be good at hiring providers. I think a lot of us are like, I'm gonna find the perfect provider, yada, yada yada.
[00:24:00] No, that's, That's not the secret sauce. Right? You don't need to be good at hiring people. You need to be excellent at firing people.
[00:24:08] Josie: Okay. I love that.
[00:24:11] Sarah: You need to be able to like grab your bags and be like, we're out and we're never coming back and this is why. I think that's the greatest piece of advice that I can give folks. I think a lot of us spend a lot of time being intentional around like, this person has great reviews and my friend and No. Let all of that go. Get in the ring with people, see how the dance feels and if it doesn't feel good drop it.
[00:24:40] That is what you like me to be prepared to do, you need to be prepared to walk away.
[00:24:46] Josie: Oh, that is fantastic advice. That's the best advice I've heard so far about that because it seems like people do get really stressed out about like finding the right one initially and it's like, well how do you know until you are, like you said in the dance?
[00:25:03] Sarah: Yeah. And at anytime you just need to be prepared to walk. I feel like I have the best results with clients who are like, Yeah, this is not working. And I'm like, All right, so here is my list of 10 other people that we can go talk to. And they're like, Okay, let's go talk to these 10 other people.
[00:25:16] Versus like, I wanna keep making something that is not going to work work. Right? Be really flexible about who gets you to the end goal, right? Like, yeah, you might be in this super liberal hospital with this very conservative doctor. That's a terrible mix. Or you might be in this very conservative hospital with a very liberal doctor.
[00:25:39] That's a terrible mix. You have to weigh out those things and yeah, it's very important that, again, you're good at firing people. Like how do we diplomatically and gracefully bow out.
[00:25:55] Josie: Yeah, totally. Be ready to walk because I think so many people feel that they are stuck with whatever healthcare practitioners they begin with. And I have that conversation a lot with my patients where I'm like, If you're not feeling seen, heard, or valued with this practitioner, go get a second opinion or go, seek out someone else.
[00:26:16] Sarah: Just wrap it up.
[00:26:18] Josie: Yeah, let's wrap it up. Let's wrap it up. We're done here.
[00:26:20] Sarah: I tell people, you have to be prepared to walk. I just see people spend way too much time trying to find a provider that they deem perfect that they never met. And I'm like, This is not married at first sight team. Okay. I need that all to stop because this is scary. You should be dating your providers, like if he doesn't. Mm-mm.
[00:26:47] Totally,
[00:26:48] Josie: treat it like dating.
[00:26:49] Sarah: Exactly like if you gotta go Dutch on the first date, you politely put down your card and then you walk away and you just move away. We know how to do it. We just don't think it applies to this area. No, it does. No, it does. If you're like, this doesn't feel good, we're not doing this again. That's it.
[00:27:09] Josie: Totally. And like you said, like if someone recommends a practitioner that was a good fit for them, that is not necessarily gonna be a good fit for you. So it's like, don't go on that either.
[00:27:20] Sarah: Listen, I love my friends, but when it comes to like provider referrals, I always like to give them several referrals. Based on their personality, based on the resources you have, these are the people I think might be a good fit. I think you should interview them all. And if none of them work out, come back to me, but like go talk to all these people and let me know how it goes. Again, if you get like four days out and you're like, Nope.
[00:27:50] Now what? We need to be pragmatic about what nope means and what you're prepared to do around that decision, but like, no's still get to be a part of the conversation.
[00:27:58] Josie: Totally. I mean, I've had patients who have decided they weren't feeling good about the connection with their fertility doctor and they weren't getting pregnant. Weren't getting pregnant, weren't getting pregnant, and then switch doctors and they get pregnant. I think it has such a huge influence.
[00:28:16] Sarah: It's a big in- I think you and your provider's ability to talk across the table Yeah. Is a really big deal and if you can't do that, then you are not going to be able to get quality care.
[00:28:30] Josie: Totally. So like it affects your stress levels, it affects your hormones, it affects everything.
[00:28:37] Sarah: I mean, it also inhibits their ability to give you advice. Yeah. Like it's two way street. You're not able to receive care and they're also not able to give you care.
[00:28:47] Josie: Totally. Ugh, I love that amazing advice.
[00:28:51] Sarah: I hope so. I'm like, please. Being very prepared to walk, put on your walking shoes. Yes. This is what it is.
[00:28:59] Josie: Yep. I love it. Cool. So I also wanna know from you, this is something I ask all my guests. So something that I teach is about our fertile essence, which in Chinese medicine is like the essence of who you are.
[00:29:11] And so if you can get in more in touch with that essence of who you are, you actually have more access to your fertility, your fertile potential, your creative power, that kind of thing. So I'm wondering if you have any like personal practices or rituals or anything at all that helps you to connect with your essence or your whole self.
[00:29:31] Sarah: For me being a birth worker, I think spiritual hygiene is like really important. Cause you're like literally in people's stuff. Literally. And you're literal and you're coming home some days and you're smeared in other people's blood and fecal matter.
[00:29:49] I think spiritual hygiene is really important to me and I'm always in a practice of cleaning myself and essentially trying to remove all of the beautiful things that I've seen from me. Cause I'm in another person's space. And like I'm there like helper and assistant and like grounding person if you need that, but it's also still not my space.
[00:30:22] Like I'm very much a guest in like people's ceremonies and rituals. And I think for me, I have to like always carry that with me. And I'm always constantly trying to make sure that like I don't take other people's stuff to other people.
[00:30:36] You know, cause I am very much like a, I don't know if a bridge is like the best analogy I can think of right now, but, Like a little portal walking around here and I don't wanna bring this to you cuz this is not what we're offering right now. It's a balancing act for sure.
[00:30:55] Josie: That's interesting. Maybe I'd reframe my, my question as to like, what helps you keep good boundaries?
[00:31:05] Sarah: Therapy.
[00:31:06] Josie: Therapy. Yes.
[00:31:08] Sarah: Therapy. Strong belief in the weekend.
[00:31:11] Josie: In the weekend?
[00:31:13] Sarah: Like that Friday, Saturday. That Saturday Sunday thing. Yeah. I believe in it like even though I'm occupied I'm like no, no. Hold this, this firm cuz if I don't...
[00:31:26] Josie: Oh, I love that. Yeah. That's like the non-negotiable. Have to have your weekend.
[00:31:34] Sarah: Have to. Yeah. Now if I mess it up, that's my business, but I have to try and have it, so.
[00:31:43] Josie: Right. I love that. And do you ever do any sort of, like, when you say spiritual hygiene, is it like meditative or, what does that look like? Also you don't have to share if that's like,
[00:31:57] Sarah: No, it's fine I definitely take a lot of spiritual baths. I definitely spend a lot of time praying, cleaning my house. I think we forget spiritual hygiene is also where you lay your head too.
[00:32:09] My watch is constantly going. I'm like, Oh no. It's actually funny. October is Hoodoo Heritage Month, and I see all these people doing all these rituals in these dirty homes. And the old lady in my mind is just like, This is wrong. I think we have like a lot of feelings around domestic labor and a lot of resentment towards it, but like it's because we really don't understand the value of it.
[00:32:34] Cooking and cleaning can go a long way for like your spiritual and emotional health. And like I do those things to like keep myself grounded and I definitely regard them as like ancestral medicine tools. Mm. I think that's important.
[00:32:52] Josie: I love that. I love that so much. I totally agree. I think that when I feel stressed, I actually find myself feeling more calm when I'm doing the dishes. I was just explaining this to my partner the other day. I was like, Because she hates doing dishes. Like hates it.
[00:33:10] Sarah: Everybody has that one chore where we're like, Nope. For me, it's folding laundry. And I'm just like,
[00:33:16] Josie: Oh my God. That's the other one she can't stand.
[00:33:20] Sarah: We're gonna do it.
[00:33:22] Josie: Yes. So we were comparing how we approached dishes and I was like, it actually kind of calms me and grounds me.
[00:33:30] Sarah: For me it's like, I'm like a sweeper, like if I can sweep all of the negative energy out of my house, I will do that. Now if you want me to stand there and wash those dishes,
[00:33:42] Josie: that's a different story.
[00:33:43] Sarah: Different. Like it's, it's, they're a pain to me, but I'll do it. Yeah.
[00:33:48] Josie: Yeah. I love it. Oh, awesome. Cool. Well, is there anything else that you wanna share with folks around anything that we talked about or didn't get a chance to talk about?
[00:34:02] Sarah: Nope. I just think if you're in LA you wanna learn how to encapsulate, come to my class. Maybe I'll release a digital copy in January.
[00:34:10] Josie: Awesome. And how can people find you and support you?
[00:34:14] Sarah: Birthing the Block at everything, Instagram, Venmo, CashApp, birthingtheblock.com. Yeah, I feel like Instagram is arguably the best point of contact for me, which is really sad. I need to be better about that. But if you slide in my DM, I will slide back.
[00:34:31] Josie: Okay, okay, cool. And I just want, I wanna make sure everyone hears it. So it was Birthing the Block, and on everywhere; Instagram, Venmo, the website. Okay.
[00:34:44] Sarah: CashApp, all of the things.
[00:34:45] Josie: CashApp, okay, cool.
[00:34:47] Sarah: Same, same place, same name.
[00:34:48] Josie: That's easy. Okay. Awesome. And I'll put that in the show notes too.
[00:34:52] Sarah: Thank you.
[00:34:53] Josie: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being with us today, Sarah. I learned so much.
[00:34:57] Sarah: Thank you so much for having me. I'm like so honored to be here and that you thought of me.
[00:35:06] Josie: Thanks for listening to the Intersectional Fertility Podcast. To get customized fertility recommendations based on your Whole Self Fertility Method element, join my mailing list at intersectionalfertility.com and get immediate access to my two minute quiz. If you like the show and wanna hear more, tap subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and please leave us a review. It really, truly, helps.
[00:35:32] The Intersectional Fertility Podcast is hosted by me, Josie Rodriguez-Bouchier, and produced by For the Love Media with Original Music by Jen Korte.
All content offered through The Intersectional Fertility Podcast is created for informational purposes only, it is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.