To be fair, these mothers entertain some crazy ideas, like returning not just to midwives but to mothers eating placentas.... for real....the heroine does not approve.

The mothers of all non-human mammals eat their placentas because they're hungry and they do not want the smell of afterbirth to attract a predator to eat their babies. So, if you happen to give birth while you are out alone on safari, you are in the proximity of a pride of lions, and your broken-down Range Rover has neither a loaded gun nor a cooler full of food, nor doors, then I would say that eating your placenta is certainly a good idea.