I found this on the official site of the scientologists. 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.” Does this mean that a mother cannot scream or moan at all? Of course they can make noises — the point of silent birth is NO WORDS. This is a principle of Dianetics and to fully understand why, read the book Dianetics the Modern Science of Mental Health, by L. Ron Hubbard. It is words that are the culprit. Outside of not speaking, the objective is generally to have as peaceful and relaxing an environment as possible for the mother and child. It is doubtful that any woman could give birth without making any noise at all. Mothers naturally want to give their baby the best possible start in life and thus keep the birth as quiet as possible. http://www.scientology.org/en_US/news-media/index.html#silentbirth

oh oh. I didn't know about that. This is crazy.