My sister had a hysterectomy and I convinced her to keep the uterus to use as decor – we put it in a jar from HomeGoods
THE best creative interior design ideas don’t have to cost a fortune — or take up a lot of womb.
After her sister had a hysterectomy, TikToker Michelle Ugalde convinced her to keep her uterus and repurpose it as home decor.
Michelle’s sister has five children, the last of whom were unexpected twins — and she was final on her decision that they would be her last.
“She grew two babies in this uterus at one time. There’s no way we’re discarding that bad boy,” Michelle (@michellemariewhatever) said of the uterus.
Michelle proposed an unlikely way to keep it: with a bit of preserving chemicals, she’d store it in a decorative jar to add flair to her home.
The pair went on a shopping trip to HomeGoods to pick up materials for the eccentric DIY.
Initially, Michelle’s sister wanted to split her uterus into two jars so she could take a piece home.
“That’s a f**king stupid idea,” Michelle quipped.
” It’s her organ but it’s my idea so it’s going to remain as a wet specimen in one jar so she can come visit it whenever she wants.”
While shopping, the sisters conducted a “quality test” of the lucky jar that got to house her “babymaker.”
“We needed to make sure that the transparency of the glass was good enough to display her lady parts in all their glory,” Michelle explained.
“This might be the coolest idea I’ve had and it will absolutely be one of the coolest pieces of decor in my home,” she said.
The video, which went viral with over 3.4 million views, gained attention from shocked and intrigued viewers.
HOW TO SAVE A UTERUS
It took a few weeks for the uterus to be ready for pickup — pathologists needed to run some routine tests — but the sister duo headed to the hospital together to get it.
Back at home, they made sure to pull on N95 masks and gloves to move the pieces of the uterus, which had been sliced up and was sitting in a formula of 10% Formalin to preserve the organ.
“Someone asked if I was going to pickle it. That makes it sound so gross,” Michelle told The U.S. Sun with a laugh.
With tongs, the sisters picked up the uterus pieces and put them into the large glass jar, filling up the container with water.
“It looks like mushrooms, it looks like portobello,” Michelle’s sister said.
She, however, disagreed.
“It looks like turkey. It looks like you couldn’t even eat that,” she said.
She told The U.S. Sun she was told to soak it in water for 48 hours before “moving it to its final home of 70/30 alcohol/water.”
ORGAN ARRANGING
In a follow-up video, Michelle shared her plans to restore the uterus to one piece.
“It’s just basically a puzzle at this point. I knew it would be split up but I didn’t think it would be split up this bad,” she said.
“I thought four, maybe eight pieces, but this is a lot.
“Do I really want to be the girl sewing her sister’s uterus on parchment paper? But we want to see it together, don’t we?
“It looks like it would not be that difficult to do and I know for 100% sure it would be so much cooler, even if you see the stitching on it.
“It would be a million times cooler to see, almost like a Coraline-kind of deal, it stitched up together.”
After watching a few videos and practicing stitches for three hours, Michelle successfully Frankenstein-ed the uterus into a complete piece.
LIKE PINTEREST FOR BODY PARTS
Viewers were shocked by her dedication and commitment to the project.
“This series has been absolutely insane and I am here for it,” said one commenter.
“I love the commitment you have put into this. I would have tried to do the same,” said another.
“If my mom ever has to get a hysterectomy, I wanna do that same. [It’d] be nice to see my first apartment again,” joked one viewer.
“Yay! Frankenuterus!!! You did such a good job!” said another.