Music in Labor
My Story
I remember a critical point in the labor of my first
child. I was exhausted. I hadn't slept in 35 hours and was so
under-educated for the birth I had dreamed of.
My midwife walked into my labor room and asked “Where’s the worship
music?” – I spouted to her “I hate music!”
Which was a little extreme, I don’t hate
music. However, I did not understand it could have had the power to transform
my thinking and possibly make a difference in how I labored.
Fast forward 4 ½
years, I’m laboring once again – my whole life has changed. We have been anticipating the birth of this
child for years, and as a childbirth educator and doula I had been preparing
for her birth since I took my first class 3 ½ years earlier. Months before her birth I had been taking
note of different songs; their meaning, the tempo, the sound of the singer’s
voice, the words and how they made me feel.
My husband and I had practiced hours of relaxation to these songs,
weeding out ones we didn't like, adding in new ones we did. So when I was in the middle of a contraction
and I heard Kari Jobe belt out:
“So Faithful
So Constant
So loving and so true
So powerful in all you
do”
My heart was
right there, beating along with the words – remembering how faithful God is,
how he brought us here, how he saw us through every struggle; every painful and
difficult step of the way. And as the
contraction rose – I heard:
“I know that you are
for me
I know that you are
for me
I know that you will
never
Forsake me in my weaknesses”
My heart was comforted, encouraged. I knew that my team did not just consist of
earthly people, but that He was right there with me – pulling me through.
Music can move the
soul.
The songs on my playlist carried me through a near perfect labor. I was strengthened, encouraged and motivated
to continue through till the end.
Their Story
In my childbirth
classes, I play a CD with a compilation of water sounds; from waves to rain
drops. I recently had a client who liked
it so much she borrowed it for her labor.
They had it on repeat for over 6 hours.
However, another client was so irritated by the same music that we had
several relaxation sessions in silence so she could really relax.
Everyone chooses
different music, and that is o.k.
Your Story
When choosing music you want to pick songs with a tempo of
60-90 bpm. What does that even mean, you
ask? Slow, gentle music – something you can sway to. If your music tempo is too fast you’ll feel
like you can’t keep up and it may force your breathing to be irregular and out
of sync with your natural rhythm. If
your music is too slow you’ll find yourself pausing, waiting for the music to
allow you to move on. Neither will help
your labor.
During early labor your music will provide a good distraction
to keep your mind busy, instead of focusing on each contraction. When you are in active labor, your music can
give you a good focal point something to keep you moving through the
contractions; not mentally stuck at the peak.
The music can bring motivation throughout transition when you want to
give up and be done. And then, when it
is finally time for your baby to be born, the music she has grown accustomed to
hearing will be playing softly while she is welcomed into the world. Even during a cesarean, playing your music
will help you relax and make your delivery more family centered.
The best music
relaxes your muscles, clears your mind of negative thought and leads you to a
peaceful place. It allows you to move in
ways that feel good and release your body to do the good hard work of opening
up to birth your baby.
My advice when choosing your music is to put together a
playlist early on in your pregnancy. Then, when you have time, play your music
and practice relaxing while in different labor positions. If you find that some of your choices don’t
work, remove them – if you don’t like them now, you most likely won’t like them
later. Make your list an ongoing one;
you can add to it or remove at will.
When baby day comes your body will know just what to do when the music
plays.
What songs are most
likely to be on your labor playlist?
**This post was originally published on Modern Alternative Pregnancy in June 2013
