One of the most important things about prepping for any birth, but especially an unmedicated birth, is prepping your mindset.

Even with a ton of prep beforehand your mindset can be easily influenced by the energy in the room, the opinions of those around you and how everything coincides together.

I am well aware that it is not popular or convenient to have an unmedicated birth amongst medical professionals. That being said, I'm there to have my baby, not make anybody's life easier and this isn't about convenience. Knowing this, I know that I may not be the most popular mother in the labor ward and I may have some differing energy than what I would like to be surrounded with. It stinks, but it's the reality of inviting traditional medicine into my birthing experience. Truly, I would've been a great candidate for a home birth and that's exactly what I plan to do next time. For now, I have to make my choices work.

Keeping all of this in mind and preparing for the possibility of bad attitudes amongst the staff I am aware that I need to keep the energy as light as possible and I need to stay grounded in truth. That is why I made a birth playlist.

I also know that the right kind of music has a very calming effect on me and when played in the right setting, especially paired with massage and essential oils I can relax very quickly. Given that I need to be relaxed in order for my labor to progress I wanted to make sure I had the right music picked out ahead of time.

Now sure I could've clicked shuffle on my phone but I would've had to deal with songs that had vibrational frequencies that could throw me off my game. Even the sounds I love the most could easily become irritating or get me out of my head space. That's why I was super intentional when creating this playlist.

Sticking with the theme of being grounded in truth and maintaining my positive mindset I decided to go with an all worship playlist. I was careful to only choose songs that were calming to my soul and that had simple truth that I could repeat in my head to get me through the worst contractions. I also picked a lot of songs that didn't repeat too many times so I wouldn't get frustrated. In picking songs I was careful to not have live versions with a bunch of talking or cheering as I know that could get me out of my head space. I was even intentional with the instruments. Heavily produced or upbeat songs with a lot of electric guitar are songs I can't have playing when I focus on things. They irritate me in my day to day life so I knew they'd certainly irritate me when I'm in labor so they were the first to go.

After hours of listening, searching, tweaking and arranging I finally came up with this playlist. It's got 67 songs and it's 5 hours long. It's long enough that I can play it through my labor and replay it and I won't get tired of the songs like I would if it was only an hour or so.

I also created a backup playlist of instrumental/lullaby versions of some of my favorite worship songs from SOZO Sleep music. These are songs that help me fall asleep some nights and I can easily meditate, pray, or breathe to them. I wanted these for if I'm in the tub or struggling with hearing voices during contractions- just to be a bit overly prepared.

Maybe this is extra, but it's important to me. I've seen in a lot of videos the power that music can have over the mind when laboring and I want that. I also want my son to be born with truth playing in the background, encouraging me and reminding me where my strength comes from.

I know a lot of people forget to play music during labor or think they want it and then hate it. That may be the case for me but it's one of my main tools for coping and so I'm pretty sure I'll use it at least at some point during my labor and delivery process, we'll see.

If you're about to give birth I encourage you to make some kind of playlist just to have in case you want it! I'm planning on bringing a speaker but also bringing in ear headphones that I can easily pop in if I need to get in the zone and block everyone else out around me. If you need songs that will get you really hyped up, make a hype playlist. If you need songs that will relax you, do what I did! I'm going to have this playlist on repeat over the next few weeks as I prepare for labor to get myself in the right mindset. Practicing affirmations and breathing to them will help me to stay grounded when I may start to feel overwhelmed by the sensations that my body will be experiencing. I'm interested to see how the mental preparation will help me in the long run.

If you'd like the main playlist I created for your birthing experience or you're just looking for a chill worship playlist, check it out below on Apple Music and Spotify, I'm happy to share!

xoxo - Ry

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