For many years the placenta was commonly referred to as afterbirth, which tells you exactly how we’ve regarded it: as an afterthought. Yes, the placenta is delivered after the baby is delivered, but it’s the organ that precedes the second set of organs growing in your body. Because we don’t often pay it the attention it’s due, most of us don’t know that at any given moment, 20 percent of our blood is traveling through the placenta, keeping our future child or children nourished. We don’t hear about its remarkable immunity work, fighting off and eliminating pathogens while also allowing
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