Playlist for Labor and Delivery (aka Gangsta's Paradise)

One of the things we were taught in Bradley Class was to make a playlist or CD for birth.

"Make sure your CD includes music for all sorts of moods. I actually gave birth while listening to Gangsta's Paradise, " said our teacher, who is a petite, gray-haired woman. As snickers bounced off of the walls of the room, she explained, "You'll need music that makes you feel energized at some points and calm at others."

Well, my playlist doesn't include Gangsta's Paradise, but it does include a few titles that I found particularly ironic, like:

-Baby by Justin Bieber
-Closer to Love by Mat Kearny
-Everything is Changing by Keane

...or some less "positive" sounding ironies:

 -Hurts like Heaven by Coldplay
-The Hardest Part by Colplay (maybe I'll listen to this song at 10 centimeters)
-Paralyzer by Finger Eleven (in case I need an epidural)
-Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle (I don't think I need to explain this one.)

At any rate, here is my brainstorm list for what I'll be listening to during childbirth. :-)

Playlist for Birth

Section 1: Upbeat, Positive Music to Make Me Smile

·         Love Train by the O’Jays              

·         Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson

·         Baby by Justin Bieber

·         Down by Jay Sean

G   Get Down On It by Kool and the Gang

  

Section 2: Rock Ballads/Favorites

·         Nothing Left to Lose by Mat Kearney

·         Closer to Love by Mat Kearney

·         Everything’s Changing by Keane

·         Is it Any Wonder by Keane

·         Hurts like Heaven by Coldplay

·         Living in Technicolor by Coldplay

·         Every Teardrop is a Waterfall by Coldplay

·         A Message by Coldplay

·         The Hardest Part by Coldplay

·         Things I Don’t Understand by Coldplay

·         Set Fire to the Rain by Adele

·         Someone Like you by Adele

·         The Walk by Imogen Heap

·         First Train Home by Imogen Heap

·         Tidal by Imogen Heap

·         Swoon by Imogen Heap

·         Let Go by Frou Frou (Imogen Heap)

Section 3: Powerful/Amped Music (Hard Rock and Hip Hop)

·         Mr. Brightside by The Killers

·         Somebody Told Me by The Killers

·         Everlong by Foo Fighters

·         My Hero by Foo Fighters

·         Rope by Foo Fighters

·         Times Like These by Foo Fighters

·         Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter

·         Paralyzer by Finger Eleven

·         Closer by Nine Inch Nails

·         Hate It or Love It by The Game

·         Dirt Off Your Shoulder by Jay Z

·         Can I Get A. . . by Jay Z

·         Hard Knock Life by Jay Z

·         Not Afraid by Eminem

·         California Love by Tupac

·         OMG! By Usher

·         “Yeah!” by Usher

Section 4: Calming Music

·         John Fluker—The Sound of Peace (entire disc)

·         David Nevue—Overcome (entire disc)

·         anything by Lorie Line

·         Yellow by Coldplay

·         Sparks by Coldplay

·         We Never Change by Coldplay

·         Green Eyes by Coldplay

Section 5: Christian Favorites

·         Jesus Freak by DC Talk

·         Consume Me by DC Talk

·         Between You and Me by DC Talk

·         Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle

·         Give You Glory by Jeremy Camp

·         Our God by Chris Tomlin

·         I’m Not Who I Was by Brandon Heath

·         The Light in Me by Brandon Heath

·         Your Love by Brandon Heath

Please comment with suggestions for labor playlist songs, or tell me about what you were listening to when you gave birth to your child. :-)

Love,

Poppy's Mama

Boot Camp

A friend (Heather) recently replied to a post on my Facebook wall that pregnancy is boot camp for mommyhood. Does that mean that subsequent children are more like NCO Academy?

Sorry. . . this Air Force wife couldn't resist, but it's true. I'd assume the first time around is the hardest and after that it's generally a lot of work, but not quite as intense. Your body has met these demands before. You're already a part of the mommy "club". So this got me thinking . . . this is another one of those times where being a primary custodial stepmom prior to having a child of my own gives my journey into motherhood some gray area. Am I in boot camp now after going to military school for a few years or will things be extra hard rather than easier because I'll be caring for my first newborn with a preschooler in tow?

Some silly thoughts I had about stepmothering and pregnancy recently for your laughter and enjoyment:

Observation 1:

 Although I haven't had a baby yet, I have grown to loathe going shopping with children. It's not just that they hate being in the cart and staying where you can see them, worrying about them breaking or running into something, or even that they ask to have about every fourth item they see at eye level.  Though those are definite reasons I try to avoid it, one of the biggest is the likely chance that my child will have to use the bathroom while we are there.

 Last night was a perfect example. Dannika had a MAJOR diarrhea blowout while we were at Target and of course, her dad was nowhere to be found. At nine months pregnant, I waddled myself and her to the ladies bathroom where I proceeded to kneel down on dirty bathroom floor, strip Dannika of all her clothes from the waist down, and use nearly half a roll of wet paper towels cleaning poop from pretty much everything but her shoes (though I will say her socks were not salvageable). I called her dad and waited for him to rescue his queen and his princess from the Target bathroom with fresh clothes to wear. Somewhere in the middle of the chaos a thought occurred to me.

This may be the first time I am on a dirty public bathroom floor cleaning poop off of a child's legs, but it certainly won't be the last. 

I chuckled to myself. Boot camp.

Observation 2:

 Has it occurred to anyone else that waking up in the morning during later pregnancy is kind of like waking up in the morning after a night of heavy partying? One feels dehydrated, stiff, and like the quality of sleep over the course of the last several hours was heavily compromised.  The sun is especially bright for some reason.You mosey on over the bathroom, get yourself a cup of water, and contemplate the best way to cover up the bags under your eyes so that your appearance of professionalism will not be compromised at work that day. Luckily, by the third trimester most of us are done throwing up in the morning, though I have heard of some unlucky occurrences of this.

Boot camp.

Observation 3:


"You'll never sleep the same way ever again."

If I had a nickle for every time I heard this one while I was pregnant, I'd have a lot of nickles. People say that even when the baby is sleeping your sleep won't be as restful or as sound. Mama bears are highly alert when it comes to protecting their precious cubs. Although I may not fully understand this yet, my sleep has definitely been compromised since living with and caring for Dannika. I wake up when she goes to the bathroom. I can hear soft crying at the onset of a nightmare from across the house. But mostly, I can count on the fact that if it's a Saturday, Dannika will be up one hour earlier than usual and she'll probably have already made plans for what our day should entail.

Boot camp.

Well, it's almost 10am. I'd better go shower and try to cover up the bags under my eyes. I had a pretty wild night at Target last night.

 

 

 

Excitement and Food

Okay, I'm going to admit something a little strange here.

I measure how close I am to major life milestones by the expiration dates on food when I go grocery shopping. It's like a "now beginning excitement" date.

This time last year I was really pumped because it was within a few days of this time that I was able to buy milk that had an expiration date that would occur after my wedding. It was finally March, so it was possible to buy food that would go bad AFTER I became Mrs. H.

Well, Monday is normally my grocery shopping day. I went grocery shopping and bought some orange juice that had the date APRIL 13th on it. Although my due date according to my LMP and my ultrasounds is April 8th, the due date my midwife is going with is the date of April 12th  because of the school of thought that firstborns actually take 41 weeks and 1 day for gestation. But either way, I am within food expiration date time of my due date! I have orange juice that won't go bad until after my baby is supposed to be born. This is exciting to me.

Okay. I'm done being a dork for now.

No wait. That's incorrect. I'm done being a dork publicly for now. My apologies to Chris and Dannika.

 Love,

Poppy's Mama