What's In A Placenta?

I didn�t think much about placentas until I had one and part of it dislodged halfway through a 4-mile run. Happily it ended well some months later with a �small for gestational age� tiny baby and a �large for just giving birth� me.

After that I became more sensitive to mentions of this intriguing organ that connects two individuals in a way that no other does. I noticed new hair conditioners touting �placenta� as an ingredient, and learned about people eating them. A geneticist friend kept one from a daughter�s birth, pickled in a jar, in his lab.

A placenta is much more than an "afterbirth," a biological afterthought. It's crucial.