My brain is moving even more incrementally slowly than my cervix. Two days ago, I posted about a song that made me think of the end of pregnancy. Yesterday, I posted about my iPod. Today, how about suggestions for a playlist for labour?
A while back, I had a post about the best pregnancy songs, and y’all had some great suggestions. Labour is a different creature altogether. You want some loud, harsh music to drown out the contractions, some soothing songs for those quiet lulls, and some high-energy music to inspire you through to the finish. (At the very least, I’ve gone through and made sure all the Christmas music has been removed from the iPod once and for all. I can only imagine how irrationally irritating it would be to be labouring along and suddenly have the Twelve Days of Christmas stuck in my head!)
Any thoughts on what you had or would want on your delivery-room playlist?
I’ve had a Twitter account for half a year or more, but never actually got around to using it. For those of you who don’t know it, Twitter is a way of broadcasting what you’re up to, in 140 characters or less. It reminds me of the “status” feature on Facebook. So, rather than sticking up random blog posts, I can keep y’all updated through the Twitter badge over there in the sidebar, just under the (really rather annoying and kind of creepy) Babywatch ticker. If I wasn’t so embarrassingly technologically inept, I could probably figure out how to send updates from my cell phone. But I am, and besides, Beloved is carrying the cell around like a talisman these days, waiting for his summons!
So, as long as I’m within arm’s reach of the computer (and those of you with whom I’m currently playing Scrabulous know is most of the time!) I’ll post an update at least every couple hours. All DaniGirl’s Uterus All The Time — does it get anymore embarrassingly narcissistic exciting than that?
I’ll be interested to know your final playlist. Music was the last thing on my mind and honestly, I think anything loud and harsh would have driven me crazy. I’d probably stick with mellow and soothing if I were going to do it.
You could put Prodigy’s Breathe on there for pushing. ha ha. It tends to get you pumped up but still reminds you to breathe. 🙂
Would it be tacky to suggest the Doors… “break on through to the other side!”
Yeah, probably. Heh.
Seriously… for lulls, Elton John’s Blessed is a great labor song. It’s good for focusing on what you’re there for. It’s a very special song for me as I first heard it when I was carrying my oldest. If you can find a copy, I highly recommend it.
I used Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball. And that was the CD that soothed Josie the most in the early days too – the right amount of noise, rhythm and that wonderful, ethereal voice…
I made two cds for my labour, both South African mixes, one upbeat and one more mellow. I was really suffering in labour because I couldn’t move or the baby’s heartrate would plummet, and when we put the music on it helped enormously to have something else to think about. Except the nurse who commented that the baby was going to be born to the Lion King. That pissed me off…
I’d happily send you some but I think snail mail would be too slow… is there a way to share between two different people’s itunes or something?
I have no idea what to suggest, it would depend on what you need at the time. A selection of everything from rock to spa-like soothing music would give you choice depending on where you are in your labour. But really, what possible help could I be? I had a cassette player when my boys were born. Remember cassettes people?
God, I’m old.
All the best to you and TPTBNL.
Captcha – “got singleton” (well, at least there are no twin surprises!)
Well, no ideas on music for labour really. I’d pick soothing, instrumental, no lyrics to distract. Celtic flute and harp? Gentle guitar? Once things got intense I’m sure I’d want it turned off anyway.
While you are waiting though, here’s something to make you smile. Sesame Street has noticed the hundreds of grainy You-Tube postings of their classic sketches, and they have just introduced Sesame Street videos on their own site – good quality audio and video. And a great selection of my old favourites, and some funny ones I don’t remember at all.
You can search for Ernie and Bert bedtime sketches, Kermit doing the muppet News Flash, Grover the waiter, Cookie Monster doing Monsterpiece Theatre, Oscar the Grouch or any other favourite characters. Remember the Martians who landed on earth and tried to talk to a telephone? Remember Kermit singing Bein’ Green? Did you know that in recent years they did a version with Oscar the Grouch singing his own version of Bein’ Green? Both are online now. And hundreds more I haven’t discovered yet…
You can search for favourite characters, songs or other key words.
http://video.sesameworkshop.org/?tr=y&auid=3327944
Maybe this would keep the big boys happy when you are busy with baby in the weeks to come?
Good luck!
Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville would get me to push one out.
Eager for news.
My labour was just 3 months and several days ago… and whenever I listen to Simon and Garfunkel, it reminds me of that intense time. Soothing songs, that’s what I needed. We have only one “besty of” album and listened to it during more than 4 / 5 hours !
How exciting, you’re almost there!!
When I had Pengin last year I had a “Baby Mix” on my iPod that included a pretty mellow mix – I didn’t feel the need for anything too upbeat, I was planning to concentrate on RELAXING, haha! Anyway, I had some Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis (“Blue Miles” CD), Lizz Wright, Eva Cassidy, Shirley Horn, Nina Simone and Keith Jarrett (“The Melody at Night and You” CD) to name a few. I know jazz isn’t to everyone’s taste, but it worked beautifully for me. Fun side note – my little guy plays piano like Keith Jarrett. Coincidence?
(Plays like Jarrett meaning the huffing and puffing and moving around…not that he’s a pro jazz pianist. Heh.)