Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] Music to be born to...

Kate kate@dnki.net
Fri, 23 May 2003 20:31:49 -0400


--=====================_294325657==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 06:58 AM 5/23/03 -0500, you wrote:
>All,
>     My wife and I are expecting our second child in early July.  With the 
> first child, my wife and I made a mix tape to listen to during labor.  In 
> fairness to the second child, we do not want to reuse the same tape again.

Why not?  If anything, you should think about what worked, what didn't, and 
make appropriate changes.

The babies don't care.

>So, my question is this:
>
>For you ladies, which song(s) (Midnight OIl or other) would you put on 
>your labor tape?

I really didn't have labor tapes per se ... just a box of cd's.  When Ian 
was born I did a lot of early to mid labor dancing and booty shaking to the 
surfier MO works (head injuries, place without a postcard, up tempo works 
from ESM) as well as to Shadowy Men and Ventures.  The Pixies just confuse 
the staff and Dead Kennedy's were outright disturbing.

I can explain why the booty shaking is physiologically important in labor 
in exquisite detail, but its boring as ... ;-) That and relatively 
irrelevant at the time save for its high utility in telling nurses to go 
away and take their confining machines that go BING with them.  (Professor 
Erin would just correct me anyway)

>For all (as to not be exclusionary), what song(s) (Midnight OIl or other) 
>would you like to enter the world to.  Remember, this will be the first 
>song you hear outside of the womb!

My boys both entered the world to strains of Gondwanaland.  I had purchased 
the disc at WOMAD and made change out of Charlie's bush hat.  There was one 
particular cut that was all I wanted to hear over and over and over.  If 
didge music is the sound of the earth talking, there was never any time 
that I more wanted to hear from Mother Earth than when bringing the babies 
to light and air.

Then again, after Ian's birth, I couldn't get The Breeder's "Cannonball" 
out of my head ... he was breech and very nearly born in the hot tub.

Your mileage may vary.

One thing you may already know, since this is round 2: does your wife 
consider music a distraction or a focal point?  All the birthing classes 
recommend a visual focal point, but that doesn't work if a) she is 
seriously nearsighted and her contact lenses pop out with each serious 
contraction and b) she is highly visually oriented and thus distracted by 
visual input, not focussed by it.  It makes a difference because women who 
are distracted by having music playing (i.e. like it quiet when they work 
on intense projects - and this is an intense project!) may prefer light 
background music when the really hard work starts, while those who use 
music and not a picture of the cat or first baby as a focal point need 
something a little more interesting and complex to groove into.

Best of luck with the birth!
-Kate
--=====================_294325657==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"

<html>
At 06:58 AM 5/23/03 -0500, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font size=2>All,</font><br>
<font size=2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; My wife and I are expecting our second
child in early July.&nbsp; With the first child, my wife and I made a mix
tape to listen to during labor.&nbsp; In fairness to the second child, we
do not want to reuse the same tape again.&nbsp; 
</font></blockquote><br>
Why not?&nbsp; If anything, you should think about what worked, what
didn't, and make appropriate changes.<br>
<br>
The babies don't care.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font size=2>So, my question is
this:</font><br>
&nbsp;<br>
<font size=2>For you ladies, which song(s) (Midnight OIl or other) would
you put on your labor tape?</font></blockquote><br>
I really didn't have labor tapes per se ... just a box of cd's.&nbsp;
When Ian was born I did a lot of early to mid labor dancing and booty
shaking to the surfier MO works (head injuries, place without a postcard,
up tempo works from ESM) as well as to Shadowy Men and Ventures.&nbsp;
The Pixies just confuse the staff and Dead Kennedy's were outright
disturbing.<br>
<br>
I can explain why the booty shaking is physiologically important in labor
in exquisite detail, but its boring as ... ;-) That and relatively
irrelevant at the time save for its high utility in telling nurses to go
away and take their confining machines that go BING with them.&nbsp;
(Professor Erin would just correct me anyway)<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font size=2>For all (as to not be
exclusionary), what song(s) (Midnight OIl or other) would you like to
enter the world to.&nbsp; Remember, this will be the first song you hear
outside of the womb!</font></blockquote><br>
My boys both entered the world to strains of Gondwanaland.&nbsp; I had
purchased the disc at WOMAD and made change out of Charlie's bush
hat.&nbsp; There was one particular cut that was all I wanted to hear
over and over and over.&nbsp; If didge music is the sound of the earth
talking, there was never any time that I more wanted to hear from Mother
Earth than when bringing the babies to light and air.<br>
<br>
Then again, after Ian's birth, I couldn't get The Breeder's
&quot;Cannonball&quot; out of my head ... he was breech and very nearly
born in the hot tub.<br>
<br>
Your mileage may vary.<br>
<br>
One thing you may already know, since this is round 2: does your wife
consider music a distraction or a focal point?&nbsp; All the birthing
classes recommend a visual focal point, but that doesn't work if a) she
is seriously nearsighted and her contact lenses pop out with each serious
contraction and b) she is highly visually oriented and thus distracted by
visual input, not focussed by it.&nbsp; It makes a difference because
women who are distracted by having music playing (i.e. like it quiet when
they work on intense projects - and this is an intense project!) may
prefer light background music when the really hard work starts, while
those who use music and not a picture of the cat or first baby as a focal
point need something a little more interesting and complex to groove
into.<br>
<br>
Best of luck with the birth!<br>
-Kate</html>

--=====================_294325657==_.ALT--