Placenta Tree

The inspiration for my next tattoo has been the "placenta" tree that grows across the road from my house.  I have been fascinated with this tree for six years and have never seen another that so closely resembles the "tree of life" that is found on the inside of a placenta.  My original plan was to get the tattoo before I was pregnant with Nadia.  My sister in law drew some tattoo ideas for me, and I ended up pregnant sooner than I thought and had to postpone the tattoo.

Plan B was to make a print of my real placenta after Nadia was born and then get a tattoo of my placenta print.  I had photographed my friend Brandy's placenta when her son was born in 2006, so I knew what a perfect tree of life could be found on the inside.  I studied how to make the perfect print of my own placenta.

However, after Nadia was born, my placenta was less than ideal.  It was shredded and had to be fished out of me in pieces with extra large tweezer-looking things.  Thankfully it sustained Nadia's life, but there was no way it would make a good print for a tattoo!

My placenta after Reuben was a bit "old" to make a good print, and while I planned to keep it to plant it or dehydrate it, it somehow came up missing from my refrigerator.  (Could that be b/c I have a husband who LOVES to throw things away???)  So now I'm back to plan A of using the inspiration of my neighboring "placenta" tree and Rachel's creativity to come up with a tattoo design.  The tree of life on the inside of a placenta is one of the most marvelous mysteries of God.  I have tree of life shirts, earrings, pictures, necklaces, but I do believe it needs to be a permanent mark on my body.  To me it represents the miracle of birth and the truly miraculous design of God.