Labor Tunes

In our childbirth class we have been discussing relaxation techniques to deal with the pain in the first stages of labor. Our instructor mentioned taking a bath, walking around the room, having your partner massage your back, focusing on a photograph and, of course, the hee-hee-hee-hoo breathing patterns. She also mentioned that some women like to bring in soothing music to help with the pain of contractions, and that music helps your breathing tempo and keeps your energy up.

Now everything I’ve read points to classical music as the labor-tunes of choice, but Chris and I are going into this with a different approach. I’m looking at labor as a long-distance race – hopefully a 5k, not a marathon! – and since I was running a lot when we found out I was preggers, maybe we could incorporate some songs from my training playlist into a childbirth playlist. We could start off with the warm-up songs for the first stages of contractions, ie: Into the Mystic, Billy Breathes, Brokedown Palace. I personally find Van Morrisson just as relaxing as Mozart. Once the active labor begins I feel a boost of energy will be needed. We thought about it over the weekend and compiled a short list of motivating songs that include Chalkdust Torture, Fee, some Led Zepplin and Rolling Stones. Basically all of the songs that make you want to drive fast when your hear them. Please note that none of the Rocky theme songs will be included on the list of inspirational tunes. The last thing I want is for Baby Amys to be born with Eye of the Tiger being playing in the background.

This just adds to the long list of responsibilities Chris holds during the big day: Keeping me relaxed, comfortable and sane, communicating with all of the doctors and nurses, making game-time decisions, cutting the cord and, now, Labor DJ. We’ve got a good start on what songs we want, but how we are going to listen to them is another issue in itself. All of our music is on our computer and our IPods, and I doubt the Labor & Delivery unit at Mission Hospital has a banging system available. If they have a CD player, then we’ll just burn everything onto discs. What if there’s just a cassette player? I’ll have to go back to my high-school days and make a mixed tape. Then I’d have to take masking tape and a Sharpie, title the mix Labor Tunes, with one side labeled Dilating and the other labeled Pushing.