I am planning on bringing my laptop to the delivery room so that I can listen to my favourite music on iTunes while breathing through the discomfort of contractions. With my first labour I listened to some old school Counting Crows all through the dark night of the relentless waves of pain. With my second labour, things moved so fast that I tried to distract myself with watching the movie “Serendipity” while wincing on the birthing ball for a while, but the pain quickly became too intense and before I knew it there was a baby’s head poking out of my crotch and that made it a tad hard to focus on the film.
What did you do to distract yourself from the pain of labour, or to help calm yourself in the throes of contractions? Did you make a customized playlist that you had timed to the exact moment your child was crowning so that “Chariots of Fire” was blaring as he made his debut?
Do you have any great bands or artists you would recommend for the labour experience? I am a fan of Counting Crows, Joe Purdy, Dashboard Confessional and other kind of indie/folk/rock musicians, if that gives you any idea of what I might be looking for.
Thanks!
I would think that anything you know the words to would be good. It would allow your brain to recall the memory of the lyrics and maybe* help you focus on the words instead of the pain.
*Not that I would know… I’ve never had kids. I just know that I got a photo radar speeding ticket singing to Lady Antebellum because I totally lost my concentration. No bueno!
I listened to a lot of Paper Route as well as Ray Lamontagne while I was breathing through my contractions. It was slow and mellow and gave me something to focus on. I also spent a lot of time looking at the monitor to see when my contraction was peaking so that I could breathe with relief as the contraction eased off. The numbers on the monitor gave me something to focus on. Good luck Amanda.
I would recommend David Grey- very beautiful, very peaceful, but also some optimistic “rock-out” songs. At least as rock-out as acoustic music can be. And you should check out Karen Elson’s new CD, I think it is called The Ghost Who Walks, or something close to that. And my current favorite is Marina and the Diamonds. Her new/current/only CD is The Family Jewels, and it is FANTASTIC.
When I had my c-section, I didn’t listen to anything. I went to the hospital at 1:00 p.m.; the dr very condescendingly told me I was having what they call “false labor” (and he actually used the finger quotes), so he sent me home, even though I was 2 days past 40 weeks. Three hours after I got home my water broke, and finally at 10:00 p.m. I had to have an emergency c-section b/c my little guy was sunny side up and I just wasn’t dilating like I needed to. So there was no music, only my horrified and angry screams. And my husband pleading with me to not crush his bones when I squeezed his hand.
I had magazines both times, but never cracked one open. And as far as music, I never even thought of it, it is probably for the best though, when I get cranky I like it quiet. I just enjoyed my last few hours of doing not much at all (once I got my REALLY good epidural) and stared at the ceiling, half asleep.
I had everything all planned out. Music. Movies. Magazines.
I wanted NONE of it once I was actually in labour.
What I did during each of my labours was have a big (purple) bag of skittles and sucked on them one at time. One colour at a time. I never got through an entire bag with any of them.
Can’t help you with the music. I’m not really into music and I am forever trying to get a good running playlist. That music won’t help you in labour.