Recently I’ve been remembering a birth that I attended two years ago this May.  After a couple days of labor and lots of emotional highs and lows, a beautiful baby girl was born.  One of the things that helped the laboring mom and the laboring attendants to relax and focus during much of the labor was a great, inspirational playlist that the expecting parents put together.  I still remember the baby being born as Derek Webb’s ‘Wedding Dress’ played quietly in the background.  It was truly a music video moment and one that I will always remember.

I encourage women to find something that they identify with relaxation and make sure that it is a part of their labor days.  Creating your own environment and restful atmosphere is part of what makes birth so much fun.  Below I’ve listed some of my own labor play list that I grooved to during the labor of my second baby, last March.

Music to Labor By:

Bela Fleck – Perpetual Motion (Classical music on a banjo)

David Gray – Slow Motion, Freedom, Easy Way to Cry

Derek Webb – Beloved

Fiona Apple – Parting Gift

Gavin Degraw – Just Friends

Elton John – Mellow, Rocket Man

Jason Mraz – Life is Beautiful

John  Coltrane – I’m Old Fashion, Your Lady

John Mayer – Gravity, Stop this Train, Vultures

Norah Jones – Feeling the Same Way, Nightingale

Over the Rhine – Born, I’m on a roll, Let’s Spend the day in bed

Pink Martini – Hang on Little Tomato, Sympathique