In the penultimate episode of Singles Club, Bryn and Ku visit Ku\u2019s whanaunga as she prepares to give birth. Liam R\u0101tana remembers how his own son\u2019s birth plan went awry.<\/p>\n
Before my son was born, his mother and I attended a hap\u016btanga w\u0101nanga \u2013 a full-day antenatal course grounded in tikanga M\u0101ori. As part of the kaupapa, we spent time creating a clay uku for his whenua, or placenta.<\/p>\n
At the w\u0101nanga, we discussed the tapu associated with placentas. The M\u0101ori midwives facilitating the w\u0101nanga invited us to consider how we wanted the placenta to be handled, who could touch it, and what we might want to do with it after the birth. My fianc\u00e9e and I incorporated the handling of our son\u2019s whenua into our birth plan. We wanted it returned as soon as possible after the birth and it would be placed straight into our clay uku, for burial at a later date.<\/p>\n
Whenua is most commonly translated as referring to land, but it\u2019s also used for referring to placenta in te reo M\u0101ori. This speaks to the tapu nature of the placenta. It\u2019s what feeds and nurtures the child in utero until they are born and is a pivotal part of te whare tangata \u2013 where all humans are created. Once we enter te ao m\u0101rama, the placenta\u2019s job is done, but it maintains its tapu and mauri.<\/p>\n
When I was younger, I dated a girl who used to talk about one day turning the placenta of the child she hoped to have into capsules and taking them every morning, like a vitamin. This is practiced in some social circles, with claims the placenta contains a mass of nutrients and other beneficial minerals that can aid mothers after giving birth. It is not a practice I have heard of in te ao M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n
What I have seen and been a part of is burying whenua in the whenua, or hiding it somewhere (like in a hole in a tree). Usually, the placenta is buried somewhere meaningful, often where the wh\u0101nau have strong connections. This practice strengthens the child\u2019s connection with the place, and that of the wh\u0101nau. Having k\u014diwi and whenua buried in the whenua is sort of like the M\u0101ori version of sticking a flag in the land and staking a claim to it.<\/p>\n
Ipu whenua come in a range of designs and materials. (Image: Ipu Whenua \/ Jack Wheeler).<\/p>\n
While we had planned what we wanted to happen with our son\u2019s whenua, that went out the window when he was born. Eager to enter te ao m\u0101rama, our son came five weeks early and very quickly \u2013 it took no longer than 45 minutes from the time his mum realised she was in active labour to the baby being delivered. We didn\u2019t have time to make it to the hospital, call the midwife, or find the muka tie we wanted to use to cut the umbilical cord or the clay uku to hold his placenta.<\/p>\n
Suffice it to say, there was a bit going on when we got to the hospital. My son ended up in the neonatal intensive care unit and somewhere in the blur of having a newborn child and mother on the verge of requiring urgent medical intervention, it was recommended we have his placenta tested to see if there were any identifiable causes of his premature birth. Wanting to ensure we gave our son the best possible chance healthwise, we agreed. It would be over three months until we got the placenta back.<\/p>\n
I remember walking into the building at the back of Auckland Hospital to collect my son\u2019s placenta. It was a typical sterile hospital setting, with a few Colin McCahon paintings providing the only reprieve from the grey concrete and cold steel. I was overcome with a sense of sadness thinking about how the placenta was probably kept in some drawer among dozens of others after being poked and prodded by strangers. It was a far cry from our original plan for it. The real kicker though, was that the tests hadn\u2019t turned up any results \u2013 the whole process was in vain.<\/p>\n
The lady behind the counter held up a brown paper bag and handed me a piece of paper outlining how to handle the placenta. \u201cIt\u2019s been in formaldehyde, so you\u2019ll need to wear gloves, a mask and be very careful when handling it. It\u2019s toxic\u201d, she said to me. My son\u2019s placenta was toxic? I cried a little inside.<\/p>\n
Over two years later, his placenta is still in the same paper bag, sitting in our wardrobe. Because formaldehyde is a toxic chemical and known carcinogen, it\u2019s not safe to plant a tree on top of the placenta. Thankfully we can still bury it, but it has to be at least one metre deep and there is still a risk it will poison any flora or fauna nearby. Neither my partner or I can remember any of this being disclosed to us when it was recommended the placenta be handed over for testing.<\/p>\n
Now we\u2019re left wondering what to do. Initially, I wanted to bury his whenua up north in Herekino, where I whakapapa to. However, my partner and her mum would like for it to be taken back to Mitiaro in the Cook Islands, where they whakapapa to. I even considered splitting the placenta in half and taking some to Herekino and some to Mitiaro \u2013 but thought it would be best for it to be kept whole. In the end, it\u2019ll probably come with us on our next trip to Mitiaro and be buried somewhere over there.<\/p>\n
Mitiaro from above. (Photo: Cook Islands Tourism)<\/p>\n
As we live in New Zealand, my son will likely grow up strongly connected to Herekino anyway, so I\u2019m happy for his whenua to be taken to his other ancestral home. If anything, I hope it makes him feel more connected to Mitiaro too. Maybe one day, he or his children will want to live there. If so, I hope knowing his placenta is buried there helps.<\/p>\n
Mai te whenua, ki te whenua. From the placenta we shall one day return to the land. It\u2019s a nice reminder of the cyclical nature of life. We are born and we die, but our mauri remains. The placenta is an extension of our mauri, of our life force essence. It deserves to be treated as such.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the penultimate episode of Singles Club, Bryn and Ku visit Ku\u2019s whanaunga as she prepares to give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[26380,250874,156,111,139,69,255349,189903],"class_list":["post-560130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-atea","tag-bryn-and-kus-singles-club","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-singles-club","tag-whenua"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}