Melissa from Dear Baby has been posting songs from her son Arlo’s birth playlist and it got me thinking about my own labor playlist (though it never actually got used!) that last year at this time, I was compiling…
I’ve been thinking a lot about the last stages of my pregnancy. So hard to believe that it was a year ago that I was struggling to zip up the same fleece-lined boots that I’m wearing now. A year ago clearing snow off of my car meant getting my giant belly soaked and running up to my fifth floor apartment (well, elevator-ing up to be exact) to change. And now… I’ve traded midwife appointments for playgroup. Pregnancy insomnia for early morning wake-up calls. Feeling someone’s butt wedged into my liver for having the same little man’s hands grabbing my hair.
And so, I thought I’d share the top ten (from 80+! I was certainly prepared for a long labor!) songs from my list. These are all very, very mellow as my instructions per my doula were to choose songs that were relaxing, and these are the ten that really to me exemplify the whole pre-birth experience. I’ll follow these up with the post-birth playlist (which was actually used a lot during pregnancy but again, never actually plugged in my iPod in the hospital!) which is a lot more upbeat. And then! In honor of his upcoming first birthday (and by then, we certainly will have reached it), the top ten songs from Whuff’s first year. OK! MUSIC OVERLOAD! GO!
So… uh… I’m probably the only lady around associating Charles Darwin with labor, but… I love the hell out of this song and it just embodies relaxing to me. I associate water with being at peace and, well… oh my god, the water’s all around us. oh, my god, it’s all around… oh my god, the water’s cold and shapeless, oh my god it’s all around, oh my god, life is cold and formless, oh my god it’s all around… Haunting and perfect for feeling both embraced and overwhelmed by life itself.