Native Americans seem to have always placed great value on silence and direct experience, and in indigenous cultures in general, silence denotes respect and self-effacement.
the thinning of the cervix Your cervix starts out being two inches long, and 50% effaced would be a 1 inch cervix
withdrawing into the background; making yourself inconspicuous shortening of the uterine cervix and thinning of its walls as it is dilated during labor