Just came on this thread. Very entertaining. Took me back to when my second son was born, very many years ago.

TMI alert!

My son was briefly taken away after he was born, then returned to me in a recovery room. I'd just had a pad change, and had noticed the distinctive odor. NOT blood odor. When the nurse handed him to me I noticed he smelled the same and said so to her. She said, "Eeewww that's gross!"

Hadn't thought about that in a long time.

Some people can't detect the funny smell that asparagus imparts to urine. Maybe it's the same with "Essence of Birth."

OP, DH's comment this morning reminded of you...

I'm 15 weeks along with #2 and DH mentioned how I smell "pregnancy". I asked what he means and he said "remember the smell you complained about when you were pregnant with #1? it's like sweat but not really sweat.. yup that smell" and as I headed to the shower I realized that I will have to find a way to hide this. I notice it last week, DH noticed this morning so I'm better cover it up before co-workers start talking behind my smelly back

Do you eat red meat? Even when I'm not pregnant, I can always smell myself after I eat red meat (which I don't do often, so I'm sensitive to the smell). I've also heard that other cultures (often Asian) associate Westerners with a red-meat smell. It's a sickly sweet, rather off-putting (for me) smell.

Anonymous wrote:If your husband told you to wash a pair of pants that smelled like placenta, he surely would have mentioned if you smell like placenta.

Awesome. Thank you for this.

NY Mag just had an article out today on the "trend" of eating placentas. http://nymag.com/news/features/placenta-2011-8/index1.html

They also make the point about animals eating their placentas but interestingly nobody know to what benefit. My cat eats her vomit so I'm not convinced by the "animals do it" argument.

This placenta talk is all very gross, but the PP is right - animals do eat their placentas and there are many cultures that do too. Especially ancient ones. There probably are some benefits to it, but I cannot imagine doing it. I would surely vomit it back up. But if it was good enough to grow our babies, it must be full of nourishment!

I would have to say for me when I can smell that salty iorn smell I descibed I do a few things, I increasy my water intake, and my iorn supplements and a low dose of vitamin c for a few days. I also have come to realize body hair holds onto smell. So I either wash and shave my armpits and use regular shampoo for the hairy areas. I trim the "hedges" quite short down there (not a fan of brazilian bare). I use just enough shampoo too get a tiny lather in the pits and crotch rinse and repeat...I do not shampoo the inside of my vajajay, how ever once everything is shampooed and rinsed I do rinse out the nooks and crannies (outer vaaj) with clear water. I do not stick the shower head or fingers in my actual Vaaj. Don't give your self a damned infection doing so. I personally don't douche but a ph balanced not chemical, non antimocrobial would be my choice if I had to. Maybe vinegar, but that would make it a whole 'nother kinda stinky.

Ps the placenta and fluid smell salty metalically
and my period smells metallically salty.....

I usually crave red meat to no end too during my period....(could this be why I can smell the iorn in my blood exiting? Could this be a call from nature, my body craving supplements) ( don't animals eat they're placenta too) (maybe nature plays a part and the women that smell they're placenta and blood iorn actually need the supplement they would get by "Shudder" EATING it !!!

-ali

I have to go reapply my eye makeup - tears are literally streaming down my cheeks reading this thread. Thanks for the laugh!

Thank you for reviving this thread! I almost missed it!
I have no idea what placenta smells like (thank god) and I didn't smell while pregnant, oddly enough I didn't even need to wear deodorant, which I always have to wear non pregnant. And seriously, the woman who scrubs her armpits? Wtf? That isn't much better than scrubbing her vajayjay
What you are describing above is the smell of blood, which I did smell during my c section and have smelled during an unfortunate accident where a friend almost bled to death, it was all over me and yes, blood has a very distinctive smell, almost like a penny or something, the metallic salty smell was accurate. Ick, bad memories...

I think it smells metalic and salty.........no doubt having to do with the blood and function of placenta.......the fluid smells similar. I im anemic and when I have my period and have forgotten to take my iorn supplements I smell a similar metallic/salty smell.....

Has anyone given birth in the last few days? Did you remember to take a whiff of essence of birth?

Anonymous wrote:Ever since I got pregnant I don't like how I smell. Showers and scrubbing do not get rid of it and it's driving me nuts. I smell like.....amniotic fluid and placenta. I am not imagining things. I remember the "after birth" smell very well.

How do I get rid of this? Dietary changes? 5 showers a day? Drenching myself in perfume?

Be kind to the other pregnant mums and DO NOT drench yourself in perfume.

Anonymous wrote:Every time I saw the title to this thread I resisted opening it, but finally curiosity got the better of me.

Who knew there were such unusual types here in boring DC?!

But it does reind me that I have a couple packages of breastmilk still in the freezer. DS stopped breastfeeing 6 months ago. I think its probably too old (and not enough) to donate.

I just read about the chef that made cheese out of his wife's breastmilk. EEEWWWW.

Every time I saw the title to this thread I resisted opening it, but finally curiosity got the better of me.

Who knew there were such unusual types here in boring DC?!

But it does reind me that I have a couple packages of breastmilk still in the freezer. DS stopped breastfeeing 6 months ago. I think its probably too old (and not enough) to donate.

Anonymous wrote:To the OP: It may be that you are unconsciously associating some other smell with delivery, like a particular cream or something you used in the hospital and are still using at home, or the combination thereof. I used to be convinced that my husband was secretly eating pickles before he kissed me (I can't stand the taste/smell) and I later realized it was a weird combination of coffee breath and his particular toothpaste that was producing this effect.

It may also be that whatever this smell is might be on something that you didn't think to wash, like your purse, your slippers, or a blanket you brought with you. I once changed my clothes and washed my hair multiple times to get away from a garlicky smell only to discover that somehow I had gotten it on my pillow, which was why I kept smelling it no matter what I did.

I'm not the OP, I'm the poster who had her kid in the UK -- but there definitely is a smell. It isn't some other association, at least on my part. Same smell, both kids. Not slight. It was definitely amniotic fluid (or vernix) that I am recalling though, not generic "placenta" or "assorted birth" or whatnot.