A Placenta Remedies Service goes International for one New Mama

We are so delighted to share this extraordinary story of our lovely Brighton-based Nyssa from the Wellnyss Tree who made her placenta remedies service into an international one to help support one new mother. It’s an incredible story of going that extra mile (er, literally) so that a new mum could be supported in her fourth trimester.

“As a Placenta Encapsulator, and more broadly, as a birth worker, I’m extremely familiar with left-field enquiries.  The nature of birth and fertility means that unexpected requests are my bread and butter – but a request for international placenta preservation services was not something even I expected before it happened, and yet now I can’t wait for the next one to come in!

The close community we have built around our niche field means we are often in far closer contact as practitioners than other career types.  So various online groups form a large part of our professional networking.  It was through just such a group that I saw a call go out for someone to assist a person in Turkey who was looking to have their placenta encapsulated, but was having to seek outside assistance as she couldn’t find anyone to perform the service in that country at all.

I said I was happy for my details to be passed on, and we immediately began communicating via What’s App (god bless modern technology).  She was very keen to source a provider of this service that she could trust, and quickly.  She was also keen that they be a part of Placenta Remedies Network, an organisation that she had a huge amount of faith in.  We quickly worked out the broad logistics, while I got to work figuring out all the minutiae and complexities of taking this extremely sensitive practise on the road.

After many, many conversations, lists, instructions, forms, questions, and plans, I was finally on-call for my first international placenta.  It was to work pretty much exactly as my on call work as a Doula does.  I would live “on-call”, ready to head to Gatwick at a moment’s notice.  And one damp Saturday evening, that message came.

I was providing postnatal care for a family, holding an eight week old in one arm, and a two year old in the other, when a What’s App message popped up.  She’s in labour, and her doctor has said it’s time to go to the hospital.  I had to get there.  Now.  So with a hasty text to mum and dad who were out enjoying a rare coffee to themselves, I was soon zipping home to grab my already packed case of equipment, place the last few bits in my own bag, and extremely rapidly book a flight and a taxi!

Nyssa leaves for the airport

Within three hours of that text I was sat on the plane, heading up above the clouds to support a family in the most unique way I had encountered so far.

With a stopover in an airport shut down for the night in another city, which made for an interesting journey to the gate, I was soon touching down in my destination city.  However, the aforementioned stop was soon to come back to haunt me once again, as it transpired that while I was still considered an international arrival, my hold baggage was now domestic thanks to our stopover.  So we were separated.  And no-one knew where it was.  Or had enough English to understand my bizarre request.  Every piece of equipment was suddenly in jeopardy.  Not the most auspicious start! 

With a lot of sprinting the length of the airport several times, throwing myself upon the mercy of various airport staff, and a very odd moment of having my passport taken while I was shuffled through a police checkpoint…my equipment and I were gratefully reunited at last, and I was able to finally go and find my now very confused driver and head to my hotel.

The placenta had been delivered shortly before my arrival, so I went to quickly freshen myself up with a shower before heading straight across to the family’s home to begin my work.  Two very excited little boys were utterly fascinated by this strange woman and her masses of equipment, on top of the fact that they had a new baby sibling coming, making for some very inquisitive minds. 

As I had dedicated so much time to explaining what my requirements were as a Placenta Remedies Specialist in their space, it transpired that everything was perfectly ready for me to hit the ground running in their kitchen.  The equipment which was either too big or too sensitive to fly was in situ, the kitchen was impeccably clean, so with a little Encapsulator magic, I was soon ready to go, and so I headed to the fridge to discover…no placenta!  This is a complication I definitely hadn’t anticipated.

Reacting to unforeseen complications

So the nanny called dad, who in classic postpartum fashion hadn’t quite thought it through, so was soon on his way as quickly as he could possibly make it.  Fortunately it wasn’t long before the placenta was in my hands and I’m deep in my work, relishing the wonder of this incredible organ, and the power of its draw to pull me across nations to help spread its incomparable effects.  However many you process, the awe is never diminished. 

In no time, the slices were drying away nicely, and I was all clean and packed up once again.  With strict instructions regarding the dehydrator which was to be left on in their home, I headed back over to my hotel to immediately fall fast asleep after travelling through the night to complete this work.

The next morning, I awoke bright and early to get myself all packed up and ready to travel once again.  With everything lined up by the door, I made my way back to the client’s house to complete the encapsulation itself.  Upon arrival, I found the slices beautifully dry and ready for the next stage, so I scrubbed the workspace and myself down again and got to work.  Except on this occasion…the motor of my grinder burnt out on the first time around.  In a country I had no experience with.  With the aid of Google, I managed to explain to the nanny what I needed, who then sent their driver off on the hunt.  After an hour and a half, with all the blessings of the universe, I received another one exactly as I needed, and off I went again.

Placenta Remedies success

In no time the capsules were complete, and ready to present to the family in a lovely gift bag.  With the time lost with the grinder, I was on rollerskates to get everything clean and sterilised, packed up, and back over to the hotel to meet my driver to once again head back to the airport with an extra sample of placenta packed so that extra remedies can be made to the family’s request. 

With some good luck and a following wind (Scottish expression), I made it back to the airport perfectly in time to be able to sit with a coffee and contemplate this crazy journey I had just undertaken.  It felt like a dream, so intense had been the time constraints, travel requirements, logistics…so many things.  And what an adventure!  I hadn’t remembered in so long just how much I adore solo travelling.  I spent years and years doing just that across all modalities, and I simply adore it.  So to be able to do that while undertaking my life’s passion in providing birth support to families is just…well, I don’t think there are words.  It’s incredible and wonderful and so very special. 

So if your family have seen the incomparably amazing benefits of preserving your placenta for consumption, but think there’s no way it could be done due to your specific circumstances, location, et cetera – give me a call!  Because we’ll probably be able to work it out and give you the birth you desire.”

Nyssa is a Placenta Remedies Specialist and Holistic Therapist in Brighton, with a background in the sciences – performing research in the fields of medicine and quantum mechanics. Nyssa trained as a Doula in 2016, and as a Placenta Remedies Specialist in 2017.

Thanks to Nyssa Craig – The WellNyss Tree, Full Spectrum Doula, Placenta Encapsulator,  Find Nyssa’s birthly profile here