Maple Tree Co.

Be still my heart ♥️

Most placentas look similar to a tree, but this one is the first I’ve done that resembles the human heart. A special one indeed!

AMAZING

She Proved Women’s Brains Change During Motherhood, Permanently.
They told her motherhood was instinct.
Hormones.
Emotion.

Something soft. Temporary. Something you went back from once the baby slept through the night.

Then she put mothers in an MRI machine—and proved something far more radical.

Motherhood doesn’t just change your life.
It rewires your brain.

Permanently.

Her name is Pilyoung Kim, and her work changed how science understands motherhood—not as a phase, but as a neurological transformation on par with adolescence.

For most of modern medical history, the maternal brain was treated as an afterthought. Pregnancy research focused on the fetus. Postpartum research focused on pathology—depression, anxiety, breakdown. Motherhood itself was framed as something women handled, not something their brains actively adapted to.

Pilyoung Kim suspected that assumption was wrong.

She noticed a contradiction that wouldn’t let go.

Mothers routinely perform feats of attention, endurance, emotional regulation, threat detection, and multitasking that would overwhelm most people. They read micro-expressions. They wake instantly to subtle sounds. They anticipate needs before they’re expressed.

Yet culturally, motherhood was described as cognitive decline. “Mom brain.” Fog. Forgetfulness. Loss.

Kim asked a different question.

What if the maternal brain isn’t deteriorating—
what if it’s specializing?

Using high-resolution neuroimaging, she began studying women before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and after childbirth. What she found stunned even seasoned neuroscientists.

The brain didn’t just change.

It reorganized.

Regions associated with emotional processing, empathy, motivation, threat detection, and executive function showed measurable structural and functional shifts. Gray matter volume changed. Neural networks strengthened. Sensitivity to social cues increased.

This wasn’t damage.

It was adaptation.

Just as adolescent brains rewire for independence, maternal brains rewire for caregiving. The changes weren’t random. They were targeted. Purposeful. Evolutionary.

Most striking of all?

These changes persisted.

Years later, mothers’ brains still showed patterns distinct from women who had never given birth. The maternal brain did not “snap back.” There was no reset button.

Motherhood left a lasting neurological signature.

This explained something millions of women had felt but couldn’t articulate.

Why they sensed danger before it appeared.
Why they could hold an entire household’s emotional state in mind.
Why they felt both more vulnerable and more powerful than ever before.

It also explained why early motherhood feels so overwhelming.

A brain undergoing structural reorganization is not broken—it’s busy.

Imagine learning a new language while running a marathon while never sleeping fully while being responsible for another human’s survival.

That’s not weakness.

That’s neuroplasticity under pressure.

Kim’s research reframed postpartum struggle in a way many women had never been offered.

You are not failing to cope.
Your brain is actively remodeling itself for care.

The awe in this discovery is quiet but profound.

Motherhood is one of the few experiences that alters the adult brain at a structural level. Not temporarily. Not symbolically.

Physically.

And yet society treats it as invisible labor. Expected. Unremarkable. Something women should endure gracefully without recognition.

Science now tells a different story.

The maternal brain is more attuned, not less.
More responsive, not diminished.
More complex, not compromised.

That doesn’t mean motherhood is easy.
It means it is serious.

It deserves respect—not platitudes.

Dr. Pilyoung Kim didn’t romanticize motherhood. She measured it. And what she found replaced shame with pride.

The fog? A side effect of reorganization.
The intensity? A recalibrated threat system.
The emotional depth? Expanded neural connectivity.

Nothing about this is accidental.

Motherhood leaves a mark because it matters.

And once you see it that way, something shifts.

Exhaustion becomes evidence of work being done.
Sensitivity becomes skill.
Change becomes achievement.

The maternal brain is not a loss of self.

It is an expansion.

One that science finally learned to recognize.

If you value this work and would like to support the time, research, and care it takes to preserve and share women’s history, you can Buy Me a Coffee. Every contribution helps keep these stories alive and accessible, told with respect and truth.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for remembering.
And thank you for honoring the women who came before us—and the legacy they continue to build.

https://buymeacoffee.com/ancientpathfb

I have been reflecting on sharing this for some time and it has been on my heart. Sometimes birth is healing and sometimes it’s scarring. Sometimes the placentas I process are celebratory and sometimes they are somber. Sometimes moms don’t get to keep their babies. This was a placenta planted under an infinity plant for one such special mother whose baby came to Earth sleeping. May all the women like this remember that all life is infinite and that they will hold their babies again.

I’m so excited for this year ❤️

This is incredible! Answers the question as to why women get “mom brain” or “baby brain” or “pregnancy brain” that causes memory issues, absent mindedness and brain fog during pregnancy and postpartum. Women are incredible!

Why a Mother Loses 5% of Her Brain During Pregnancy #motherhood Why a Mother Loses 5% of Her Brain During Pregnancy . "Baby brain," also known as "mom brain" or "pregnancy brain," refers to the cognitive change...

Introducing the reason I took a break from birth work 🥰. Sweet number six and an absolute joy ❤️.

I’m available for placenta encapsulation and tinctures again in the coming weeks. Now servicing anywhere within an hour of Brigham City ❤️.

Yes! This!

If you work in a hospital as a midwife or obstetrician, you may be expected to ‘get the baby out’ within 60 seconds of the birth of the head. There can be an expectation that the baby be born within the space of one contraction.

I have personally been mentored by private midwives and have only watched physiological births at home to learn how to sit with birth, so for a long time I assumed that everyone just waited for the second contraction for the shoulders to be born… turns out, many midwives and obstetricians will put their hands on the babies head to try and put traction/pressure on the babies head to bring the shoulders out within the same contraction.

One of the concerns is that if the shoulders aren’t born soon after the head, that they must be stuck and that the baby is experiencing a shoulder dystocia…but that can’t be true, because most of the births I attend follow a two-step method where we just wait for the second contraction for the shoulders and all those babies didn’t have a shoulder dystocia

There is research on this (of course) and Zhang et al in 2017 did a randomised controlled clinical trial to compare a one-step method with a two-step method.

The control group had the one-step method where the clinician used their hands to speed up the birth of the shoulders, the study group had a two-step approach where the clinician just allowed the baby to be born over 2 contractions

The two-step group had ZERO incidence of shoulder dystocia and no increase in neonatal asphyxia compared to the one-step group. The one step group had 4 shoulder dystocia incidents.

The two-step approach allows physiological birth to unfold, acknowledges the cardinal movements of the baby through the pelvis and allows the time for the shoulders to get into position before they are born to allow for a less complicated birth.

By speeding up and trying to manually manipulate the baby out if it’s mother we interrupt the babies manoeuvres through the pelvis and potentially create incidences of shoulder dystocia.

I’ve observed this difference as well

Check out the placentas of a mother who ate a plant-based diet compared to that of a mother who ate an animal-based diet. This is a snippet from the short documentary called “Nourished” produced by Heart & Soil Films. @heartandsoilsupplements. Click on the link in our bio to see the entire 20 minutes!

***I AM OFFERING DISCOUNTED DOULA AND PLACENTA SERVICES FOR 2 PLANNED HOSPITAL BIRTH CLIENTS***

*Available for August-October due dates at this time*

I am offering a discounted labor doula service for two future clients in my area who are planning a hospital labor/delivery to help me fulfill some additional NARM requirements for my CPM licensure.

I offer an initial phone or video consultation to get to know each other and see if we fit, one prenatal, and one postpartum. As well as constant text contact.

What I include-
- Prenatal nutritional/supplement counseling
- Assistance drafting a comprehensive birth plan
- Assistance with packing a hospital bag
- Counseling on current research and recommendations of different standard medical procedures related to prenatal and postpartum care.
- Assistance determining when it’s time to head to the hospital
- Calling ahead to your chosen hospital to let them know you’re coming
- Full labor support
- My full placenta encapsulation package
- Breastfeeding support
- And more!

I am a current Student Midwife in my NARM Assist phase 2 and have a Master Herbalist Certification. I am trained in Placenta encapsulation, verse in standard hospital policies related to birth, and have a good understanding of acupressure, aromatherapy, biomedical and other supplementation and other supportive holistic practices for prenatal and labor support. I AM OFFERING MY LABOR DOULA AND PLACENTA SERVICES FOR MY NEXT TWO HOSPITAL CLIENTS AT THIS TIME FOR ONLY $550. I typically charge $220 for my placenta service alone. Im offering this steep discount because these two planned hospital births fulfill a specific NARM requirement towards me obtaining my NARM certification in midwifery.

If you or someone you know is looking for a doula for a hospital birth within an hour of Layton city, send me a PM and we can get together!

Finally a perfect cursive “Love” 🤩! This lovely ladies cord was just thin enough, long enough, and pliable enough to get this right 🥰. This is a special one, and I’m so honored to do it!

Got a pic with storm trooper Bob Ross 😆. Check out that masterpiece! Did I mention that I do placenta paint prints, and watercolor paint overs for those who don’t want to encapsulate? I can even do placenta tinctures in addition to the painting goodness!

Going through a C-section is already hard, but it doesn't necessarily mean you can't have your placenta encapsulated or processed. If you sign out your placenta in the hospital, we can pick it up, process it, and return it to your home. Contact me for more information!

Caesarean is the only surgery where seven layers of tissue are opened and the mother is expected to stand up six hours later, taking responsibility for one more person, not to mention the intense uterus contractions, product of the Stimulation of mammary glands, release of oxytocin... etc.

If you're a mother via cesarean, you're stronger than you think. Be proud of yourself. 💕