Five Amazing Placenta Facts
Who is ready for some amazing placenta facts?
I’m often getting strange looks from people for even saying the word “placenta” out loud, but come on people, we all had one and it sustained our life as we grew into a tiny human! Let’s give the placenta credit where credit is deserved!The main function of the placenta is to bring oxygen and nutrients to the baby via the umbilical vein and to dispose of waste and carbon dioxide via the umbilical arteries. The placenta also works to filter out and protect the baby from dangerous toxins and substances in the maternal body. There are still many substances that do cross the placental barrier though despite the placenta’s awesome ninja skills Five amazing placenta facts 1. The placenta is made from both mom and dad! Let’s not go crazy here, we know that the mom grows the placenta. BUT, when an egg is fertilized by a sperm it forms into a blastocyst which then implants into the wall of the uterus and becomes the placenta and baby. So, good work dad, you helped make a baby AND a placenta!
2. The placenta keeps maternal and fetal blood separate by a single layer of syncytiotrophoblast (which in very technical terms is the main structure which determines which substances do or do not cross through the placenta to the baby). This means that mom and baby can have two totally different blood types!
3. At term about two cups of blood is pumped into/through the placenta every minute! That is about 28 liters an hour! Just for a little reference, an average adult has 4.5-5.5 liters of blood total in their entire body.
4. A term placenta weighs approximately 1.5lbs and is about 10” in circumference, that about the size an an average dinner plate.
5. The placenta is the only disposable organ that the body forms for a one time use and has a limited functioning time. Let me say that yes a placenta definitely keeps functioning past your due date!! But will it keep functioning for months past your due date?? Probably not, and thank goodness I haven’t had to test that theory!
