I've started to think about compiling my birth playlist for the impending arrival of baby #3!So far, tunes on my mind include (in no particular order according to mood or vibe or genre):
What songs buoy you in labor? I would love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and stories of how you used music in childbirth! Check out this awesome radio broadcast on the topic ;)
I made a labor playlist on my iPhone.
ReplyDeleteI barely remember it playing DURING the birth, but it was so special to listen back as the days and months passed after. Little snippets of the birth came to me by way of soundwaves. I suddenly remembered where I was when I heard certain songs. So sweet!
I totally know what you mean, Rachael! I love having the birth mix for after the baby comes -- it becomes like the soundtrack to a new life!
Deletei made a mix too and played it over and over in the weeks prior to our daughter's arrival. i would take walks and visualize what it would feel like to hear that song during labor.
ReplyDeletehere are some of my favorites:
once in a lifetime - talking heads
swim until you can't see land - frightened rabbit
here comes the sun - beatles
good song - blur
the distance - cake
do you realize?? - flaming lips
LOVE your suggestions, and the idea of playing the mix over the next few weeks to get in the zone ;)
DeleteMusic was such a huge and special part of my labor and delivery experience. I had whipped together a playlist a couple of weeks before my delivery. I didn't over-think it, I just picked songs that felt good. I listened to it everyday cleaning the house, driving the car, whatever, before the big day.
ReplyDeleteWhen my water broke and we were packing for the hospital, I suddenly became obsessed with needing to bring whale songs with us. My husband went on iTunes found whale songs (and maybe dolphin too) and we uploaded them to the iPod along with the birthing playlist.
When we got settled into our room we instantly set up the iPod and X-mini speaker and listened to the whales. This makes me smile remembering back. The music instantly set up an aura of this being our space and our experience.
When my labor became active, the whales had to go! And on came my playlist. We listened to this through the pushing, as the medical team came and went, as we met our daughter, and after my husband fell asleep, I continued to listen over and over, as I stared mesmerized by my newborn daughter until the sun broke (P was born at 11:30 PM).
Over the course of the day and the next, we listened to the playlist (but never the whales again : ) and to Ravi Shankar and the Brain Eno app on the iPod. We never turned on the TV. We had very few visitors. We were encapsulated by each other, and our love, and music, and comfort.
Here's my playlist:
Everyday- Rogue Wave
Icarus- White Hinterland
Dog Days Are Over- Florence + The Machine
Bonnie and Clyde- Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot
Going to California- Led Zeppelin
Beyond My Wildest Dreams- Mark Knopfler And Emmylou Harris
Lay and Love- Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Torn By Wolves- Six Organs of Admittance
I'm Yours- Jason Mraz
Lucky- Jason Mraz featuring Colbie Caillat
Wonderwall- Ryan Adams
Full Moon- The Black Ghosts
Beast of Burden - The Rolling Stones
Home- Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Daughter- Loudon Wainwright III
Beautiful World- Colin Hay
Everything You Do Is a Ballon- Boards of Canada
Slinky-Ozric Tentacles
Homewrecker- Nick Lowe
Dream- Priscilla Ahn
You Can Have It All- Yo La Tengo
Don't Think Twice It's All Right- Bob Dylan
Dogs- The Who
Stand By Me- Ben E. King
Gypsy- Suzanne Vega
She's Got Soul- Nick Lowe
Head Over Feet- Alanis Morissette
Whew! I think I'll check out the radio broadcast you suggested now...
Wow, I love the epicness of this comment!!! Thanks for all the amazing details. I love the bit about the whales :)
DeleteCan't wait to check out all the tunes on your playlist and add a few to mine...lots of new-to-me music! Thanks!
i always loved the idea of a labor playlist but with each of my little ones i'd make a big playlist and then when it came time to labor i would want COMPLETE SILENCE. wish i wanted to enjoy the music. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is what it is. I love that your instinct is what guides you in labor, rather than preconceived ideas or desires.
DeleteI don't remember everything my husband & I picked out for our playlist, but we'd put Neko Case's Middle Cyclone on there & when it was time to push, the last track was on. It's just crickets & frogs, but somehow was perfect for the moment. Whenever I get to the end of the album now & that comes one, I remember the moments my daughter made her appearance.
ReplyDeleteCrickets and frogs! That must have been beautiful! The song that Jackson was born on was the same song playing the night Taro and I first met -- Bob Marley's "Is This Love". Totally cosmic coincidence.
DeleteI remember spending hours trying to figure out the playlist for my son's birth. After all that work the only song I can remember was "Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin. That was the song my son came into the world hearing. I'll never forget what my midwife said "This girl is 20, having a baby naturally, and listening to Janis? That's my kind of girl!"
ReplyDeleteLove that.
Deletei had a mix on my ipod playing during my sons birth. I kept asking for the song "Spiraling" by Antony and the Johnsons. Now when we listen to it, my son, Freddie, and my husband and I get so calm and happy.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it beautiful how these songs take on such added significance after the birth?
DeleteI used 3 songs over and over for my last homebirth:
ReplyDelete"Shaking The Tree" by Peter Gabriel (This is your life, this new life has begun: It's your day, a Woman's Day) for the first, active, upbeat part;
"Breaths" by Sweet Honey In The Rock ("Those who have died have never never left, The dead are not under the earth. They are in the rustling trees, they are in the groaning woods, they are in the crying grass, they are in the moaning rocks. The dead are not under the earth. They are in the woman's breast, They are in the wailing child, They are with us in our homes, They are with us in this crowd, The dead have a pact with the living... ") when things were getting more intense 'till right before transition;
and a slow chant by Robert Gass with choir (Ohm Nama Shivaya) for transition and brith.
Almost exactly three years later, these songs still bring tears to my eyes.
I love that you just had three songs on rotation! They sound beautiful. Amazing lyrics!
ReplyDeleteI made a "music mix" for labor for both of my previous pregnancies...but ended up not listening to music at all. Perhaps I just prefer to focus w/ silence and prayer?
ReplyDeletestephanie@metropolitanmama.net
Music was a huge part of laboring for me. My favorites on our shuffle:
ReplyDeleteLong Haired Child by Devandra Bernhardt
Wonder by Colin Meloy
Shine by Laura Marling (this song made me sob and sob during labor...we named our daughter Shine, so it was an extra special song to hear)
And loads and loads of Bob Dylan!
I always cry when I hear songs from my birth mixes ;)
DeleteMy son was born 3.5 weeks early and making a playlist for labor was one of those last minute nagging things I hadn't quite done yet. I ended up being so in tune with myself during labor that it may not have made a difference anyway! That being said, a few songs I had been meaning to put on it included:
ReplyDelete"By Your Side" by Sade (it was our wedding song)
"Such Great Heights" by Iron & Wine (walked down the aisle to this)
"Make You Feel My Love" by Adele (original by Bob Dylan)
"Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon
"Forever Young" by Bob Dylan
Making a birth playlist is definitely something I will NOT be leaving to the last minute with the next baby!
Such a great list, Naya!
ReplyDeleteHa! Love it! I personally didn't have music at my birth. I thought I wanted to but I found it brought me out of my own rhythm. Listening to the sounds of nature instead helped me tune in and receive help from mother earth.
ReplyDeleteI took a great long while to put together the my labor playlist...complete with my husband and I's song, favorites from as far back as high school and a good mix of calming and pump it up. Then when it came time my labor progressed so fast (3 hours in total) that I didn't even have a chance to get the iPod out of the bag we packed. As soon as our little girl was born we took the time to plug it in and enjoy the songs as a new family. And now I continue to listen to that playlist with my newborn daughter.
ReplyDeleteLeigh- I have a friend due soon in NJ- near to NYC. wondering who are trust worthy home birth providers in this area?
ReplyDeleteSarah
Omgosh! I hate world music and what did my doula put on? A world music cd. No problem there: I barely heard it I was so lost in labor land. ;) After my daughter was about three weeks old, I got out the discs my husband had made and we loved having them playing while we nursed all day. <3
ReplyDelete