When I was pregnant with my son I got really into collecting music/sounds to listen to for the birth. I listened to it in the music in the evening when I was doing stretching and reading preggo/birth books in bed with my DP. Birth music is so personal/individual, but here is what I like:
Envoronmental sounds (my favorites are crickets and wind). I don't like environmental sounds cds that have musical accompaniament. I discovered that not many people are soothed by wind, because I had a horrible time finding this (I grew up in the great plains, where wind is just part of the landscape, not a bad thing)! I finally had success here:
www.sleepmachines.com/cdshop.html
I also got environmental sounds from used cd shops--this is where I found my beloved crickets.
For music, I like very minimalist stuff for labor. Check out stuff that people say is good for yoga, meditation, and getting a massage. Go to a music store that has a music section where you can listen to the music if you can and go to the new age section to help figure out what you like. I got a lot of good ideas from my yoga teacher.
Of other music, I like certain selections from Peter Gabriel's Passion (the soundtrack for the last temptation of christ) and the theme song to Rocky (gonna fly now) is good for a smile!
I also collected a bunch of narrative stuff to listen to in case I was bored from
www.audible.com I am a David Sedaris and This American Life fan.
I ripped all my music/sounds into mp3s and had some little speakers I could hook up to my mp3 player in case I needed to listen to something at the hospital (they did not allow boom boxes that plugged into the wall).
