Birth Playlist/Plan « Back to Group Discussions

[Teles]

So since I'm terrible at being a sick person who just lays in bed for days at a time, I've been using this time to work on my birth plan, which includes CDs that I plan to burn. I tend to find the most peace in mellow, indie music - any suggestions? Anyone have a favorite musician or album that they've used before? Stories? Anecdotes?

I'm considering making one instrumental disc, one chill, songwritery disc, and one more uplifting disc so I can choose according to how I'm feeling at the time. So far I have one song (First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwFS69nA-1w).

Also, has anyone else started working on a birthplan yet? I'm finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate so I've starting putting things together now so I don't forget important things later.

[kellybeth]

yep, i got all of my paperwork from my doctor for my birth plan. they ask about lighting and music, but i don't know what the room looks like yet so i can't say about the music. lighting is low of course, and i won't have any visitors for at least a couple hours. baby stays in room with us unless something is needed. my fiance and i will make an ipod playlist, but it will be my favorite instrumentals. i don't think i will want any voices or other talking in the room.

[odinsmama]

I was just thinking of doing a playlist today!  I did a couple of Pandora radio stations at home last time and those were great, but I want something different this time.  Also thinking of having mellow stations as well as more rockin ones, so I have some variety if I want it.

I had mostly instrumentals last time as well as "nature sounds" like the ocean or rain tracks.  

There are some great older threads on the pregnancy forum on birth plans.  Pretty extensive lists including what to pack in the hospital bag, an outline of what you want/don't want during labor and birth etc.  

[etsdtm99]

I made a playlist last time (of my angry work out music lol, that was all i wanted to listen to in late pregnancy) and i ended up wanting nothing to do with music or noise in labor..  not sure what i'll do this time..  i'd really like to try music this time but i think i'll probably end u refusing it in the moment again unless my ctx are further apart and more mellow long enough for me to get bored..  last time i went from "oh this is no big deal"  to "couldn't think about anything else and could hardly talk even between ctx" in a matter of 10 mins...  this time i am going to try to be prepared for that..  maybe if i turn on the music first?  does anyoen else use headphones for music in labor? I was thinking i don't feel great about blasting music .. even in my house..   but i'm afraid the head phones might remind me of being attached to wires and be annoying plus, i'll probably be in the water..  

As far as a birth plan, since i'm having a homebirth with the same midwife as last time i'm not really concerned about a birth plan since we agree on pretty much everything..

[Gray's Mommy]

I am actually making 3 birth preferences...one for home, one for hospital transfer and one for repeat c/s. It is overkill, but I wasn't prepared for a c/s with my 3rd & DON'T want a crappy repeat of what happened at the hospital.

As for birth music, I'm just having a playlist of songs that make me feel happy, so it is an ecclectic list.

[sweetestday]

Gray's Mommy, what kind of plan are you making for a C/S plan? I figure that would be good to have on hand just in case.

[Adaline'sMama]

I'm not making any kind of playlist this time, but in the past I've made one playlist that was calm and wonderful with inspiring "entrance to the world" kinds of songs (that bright eyes song was on that list) and then another playlist that was full of loud, awesome music that I would want to work my butt off to. I preferred the second. Childbirth is hard work, and I feel like the first playlist was too calm and allowed me to lay around too much and feel "stuck". The second time around all the loud rock music was just what I wanted. I wanted to feel like things were happening, things were moving, and like I was gettin' sh*t done, you know?

This time I think DH has a few songs that he's going to make sure are loaded up to turn on after the babies are born, but as of right now, Im feeling like I dont want any music in the labor room.

As far as my birth plan goes, Im working on it. Its crazy long, and Im going to have to figure out how to make it short and sweet but convey the message. Basically, I dont need a birth plan for my hospital, because if I deliver there they are on the same page about what I want. If I deliver at the big, scary city hospital Ill need a detailed birth plan, as Ive never been there before.

In my birth plan, Im planning to include labor preferences, birth preferences, planned (but not timed) c-section preferences, emergency c-section preferences, and baby care preferences. Then, as the time goes on, I can narrow it down. For example, if I know that we've hit 36 weeks, then I can take off preterm labor and if both babes are head down I can take off planned section preferences. 

[loveandgarbage]

Since my husband DJs and we have a gazillion records we joke that he will "play my birth". However that's not gonna happen. Flipping a record during labor? I don't think so. I didn't have music for my first two but I didn't really feel like I needed it. This time around, maybe because it's my first homebirth, I think it might be nice to have some things picked out. I want to think about it a little more, but would love to come up with at least a few songs or even full records for different "moods" during the birth.

[Gray's Mommy]

Originally Posted by sweetestday 

Gray's Mommy, what kind of plan are you making for a C/S plan? I figure that would be good to have on hand just in case.

We just were completely surprised when we had to transport from our homebirth to the hospital & ultimately had a C/S. I had a surprise breech presentation & my midwife freaked out when I was 6 cm dilated. I had NO choices that were decent to me: I could stay home & go unassisted or go the hospital & get cut open. I chose to go the "safe" route and transport. The hospital staff treated me horribly and my husband just forgot everything since he was under a different type of stress since his baby & I were involved. My C/S plan is how I want things done in the rare case of needing a repeat for something medically wrong. Obviously, I still have some emotional birth baggage I am working through. I am just putting things like getting consent from me before bathing the baby, getting consent from me on any medical testing, etc on baby, etc. It will be very "forward and bossy",but I can't emotionally handle another train wreck of a birth because I am a homebirther.

[loveandgarbage]

I'm so sorry Gray's Mommy . I had a c-section with my first, and whereas I'm mostly emotionally healed from it, I still have issues with it. I think forward and bossy is the way to go! These are OUR births, after all.

[Teles]

I have an "emergency c-section" portion of my birth plan, just in case something happens. I obviously want to avoid it, but I'm confident that DH will fall apart if something starts going wrong and he'll completely forget everything I've told him, so I want it written out and I plan to give him and the nurses a copy to hang on to.

[kellybeth]

i'm doing a little revival on this thread. everyone have their plans and such ready to go? anyone getting nervous?

hearing the doctor tell me that she might see us before our next week appointment totally freaked my husband out. he's getting nervous as a first time daddy. it's really cute/funny to me. 

i started working on a playlist for labor, but if one song comes on that i cannot tolerate at the moment i'll probably get really angry so i'm opting for silence. 

[rachieface]

I haven't made a birth plan this time around, since I've doula'd for clients with this midwife group and feel relatively confident that I can trust their handling of most situations. But, I am thinking that a "just in case" c-section plan for DH would be good, because I don't know that he has any idea what the practicalities of a more gentle c-section might look like....good idea ladies.

[buko]

Playlist:

I have my "XYZ Marathon or Bust" playlist, which I listened to during the second half of my last marathon (just over a year ago).  I know it might come in handy if I need to feel pumped/energized/empowered and it doesn't seem like it will annoy me.  So, I don't think it's super-super likely I'll listen to it, but I can see where I might.  I am also downloading some trance-y tracks to go along with my BlissBorn practice.  We'll see.

Plans:

I am in the middle of finalizing these.  I feel really good about my homebirth plan, which is more things like "I don't like cheerleading" and "No perineal massage" than anything too intervention-related, as I have confirmed my team is 99.9% on the same page with me regarding things like that (they almost never do cervical checks, etc.)

For the hospital...  My MWs are so great, so aligned with me, it's awesome.  We talked about hospital plans at the last appointment, and my MW was like, "Hey, if we go, then we are buying what they're selling."  Basically, don't put standard natural birth boilerplate on there like "Don't offer me pain medication."  But I will be talking a bit about cord clamping, standard newborn procedures, circ, etc., as well as maybe some priorities in the event of a C/S (skin-to-skin, etc.)

[Gray's Mommy]

I'm still working on my hospital ones. The homebirth one is fairly straightforward...just a few reminder requests. We're having a bunch of people here (well, this baby makes 6 of us for family) and I just want everyone on the same page about I want to birth. I may want chit-chat or I may just want to be alone in my bedroom/cave. I just know it is hard to communicate clearly when I'm laboring.

[Teles]

I finally got my lists finished. They're in alphabetical order because I went through my library and added those that I thought were suited, so they'll be shuffled before they get burned.

Chill:

Adele - First Love

Adele - Day Dreamer

Herman Dune and Clemence Freshard - The Stranger Song (Leonard Cohen cover)

Ane Brun - Rubber & Soul

Band of Horses - I Go to the Barn Because I like the

Beck - Go it Alone

Brett Dennen - She's Mine

Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life

Cat Power - I Found a Reason

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Stairway to Heaven

Handel - Sonata in D Minor

Iron and Wine - Swans and the Swimming

Iron and Wine - Blue Leaves

Jack Johnson - Fortunate Fool

Jill Barber - Just for Now

John Mayer - The Heart of Life

Jolie Holland - Poor Girl

The Kooks - Seaside

Lisa Hannigan - Keep it All

Maroon 5 - Sunday Morning

Michael Buble - That's all

Michael Buble - Fever

Nora Jones - The Prettiest Thing

Slowcoaster - Moth Caught in November

Sufjan Stevens - For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti

Wilco - Jesus, etc

Upbeat:

Adele - My Same

Adele - Rolling in the Deep

Adele - If it Hadn't been for Love

Al Dimeola - Spanish Guitar Solo (from Once Upon a Time in Mexico Soundtrack)

Beck - Black Tambourine

Bedouin Soundclash - When the Night Feels my Song

Caro Emerald - A Night like This

Feist - Sea Lion Woman

Florence and the Machine - Kiss with a Fist

Florence and the Machine - You've got the Love

Frou Frou - Let Go

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Diablo Rojo

Jen Grant - Getcha Good

Maroon 5 - Moves like Jagger

Modest Mouse - Tiny Cities Made of Ashes

Modest Mouse - Dashboard

Paris Combo - Fibre De Verre

The Raconteurs - Salute Your Solution

Roisin Murphy - Ramalama (Bang Bang)

The Squatters - Empty Bottles

Trey Anastasio - Ether Sunday

Xavier Rudd - To Let