Silent Birth / Quiet Birth – Understanding Needs of Scientologists Expecting a Baby

My wife and I had a welcome surprise when we made our visit to our midwifery today for a checkup on our upcoming new arrival.  The surprise came in terms of a genuine understanding and respect for a very normal demand from an expecting mother:  that they want to have a quiet birth.

We are having our second baby with care through a DC-area midwifery, as if all goes well, we’d love to have this one at home.  When going over various details and checking on the baby’s progress, our midwife simply asked, “Well, I noticed that you two are Scientologists.  I take that to mean that you’d like to have a silent birth, is that right?  If so, we can definitely accommodate.” Of course, both of us were quite pleasantly surprised that (a) she was already well versed in helping Scientologists with childbirth, and (b) that she was so happy to help us with such a birth plan and understood well its benefits.

The whole topic of “silent birth” took center stage a few years back when Katie Holmes was giving birth to her daughter, Suri, and due to the media frenzy that generally surrounds Tom Cruise or Katie, the media of course was then all too eager to report all manner of variations on what “silent birth” was, doing virtually everything except referring to actual Scientology writings by L. Ron Hubbard on the subject.  Unfortunate,  the tabloid pundits were all too willing to point out the “impracticality” of a “silent” birth, leaving beleaguered readers with odd impressions of be-gagged mothers trying to give birth in a cone of silence, or attending physicians jumping up and down with cue cards or sign placards telling the mother, “PUSH!”.

Quite ridiculous, especially when given the sensible and entirely practical nature of having a quiet birth that is devoid of random chatter, emotional conversations and blathering by medical staff which can then adversely affect the baby (and the mother) later in life.

In the book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, L. Ron Hubbard states:

“A woman who wants her child to have the best possible chance will find a doctor who will agree to keep quiet especially during the delivery, and who will insist upon silence being maintained in the hospital delivery room as far as it is humanly possible.” — LRH

What is said and done to a person when unconscious and in pain is recorded in the mind below one’s awareness. These recordings can “play back” later in life, causing a person to react inappropriately, or even to suffer from unwanted psychosomatic illnesses, lowered IQ and disabilities.

Thousands of case studies of those undergoing Dianetics counseling prove that what was said by others present during the trauma of birth is recorded in the reactive mind. The idle chatter of doctors and nurses, or loud remarks and laughter, even the commands, “PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!” have been recorded by the person when being born, affecting emotional and spiritual well-being later in life.

So, what we’ve requested, and what our midwife is (thankfully) only too willing to provide is a sane, calm birthing environment, with necessary communication only, and devoid from any other chatter or noise.  Seeing as that’s essentially what we had for our first baby (thanking our lucky stars for our midwife, Sue, who naturally stepped right into our requirements and executed them beautifully) and the results have been great – no reason to change anything for the next one!

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