Sunday, April 09, 2006

Tom and Katie's "silent birth" plans

I'm curious here. We all know (now) that according to the rules of Scientolgoy, women should be as quiet as possible while giving birth.

Scientolgist founder L. Ron Hubbard, who I might add is a science fiction writer (hello!) believes "that babies, like other people, can subliminally soak up words shouted around them at birth that could come back to negatively influence him later in life."

OK, what exactly is being said during birth that can cause so many problems?

"Everything that happens around you is still recorded just below one's consciousness level and words in particular; shouting things like 'push, push'; can sometimes have an adverse effect later in life," says a fellow Scientolgoist Anne Archer.

Here's what the Scientology site has to say about quiet births:

What is a quiet or silent birth?

Having a quiet, gentle birth is all about providing the best possible environment for the birthing mother and her new baby. It is labor and delivery done in a calm and loving environment and with no-spoken words by everyone attending as much as possible. Chatty doctors and nurses, shouts to "PUSH, PUSH" and loud or laughing remarks to 'encourage' are the types of things that are meant to be avoided.

As L. Ron Hubbard, Founder of Dianetics and Scientology, wrote, "Everyone must learn to say nothing within the expectant mother's hearing during labor and delivery." And, "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."

Out of curiosity, when can they start using words around the baby? And if the baby can't even understand words, what's the difference between using words and yelling or groaning? If a baby hears the Mom scream as an 8lb object is being forced out of her, don't you think that'd be more traumatic than "push?" And how exactly does this affect people in their life?

What's wrong with so-called "chatty" doctors and "push?" I'd like to know if anyone who reads this was affected by such things during their birth. I'd like to weigh in on this one but I was born via cesarean. (I'm sure they have a lot to say about that too.)

In this mornings Parade Magazine, Cruise basically points at his bad relationship with his father and being labeled as dyslexic as some sore spots in his life, shaping him into the man he is today. Hm. Interesting. I don't see how either one of these are related to his birth or "chatty" doctors.

I'm so over this. C'mon, have the baby, whomevers it is or however it was created and let's move on.

2 comments:

aimee said...

Yeah, we especially wouldn't want the baby coming into this world in a roomfull of laughing doctors and nurses. Laughter! Shocking!

So now birth is a somber experience. What a bummer. I would hate to be there for a birthday party.

Jen said...

As someone who had recently given birth, I have to say that those people are nuts! Nuts! Whoever came up with that stupid rule must be a man, lets see Tom push out a kid without making any sound and see if he likes it! Arrrgggh!