Music?

So I’m counting down to the arrival of my latest work in progress; that would be our baby, due to arrive sometime around the end of this month, beginning of next.  I’ve been working on a “birth plan”, a kind of wish list for how I would ideally like this labor to go.   There are templates for this sort of thing on-line that ask you to consider everything from whether or not you want mood lighting to whether or not you want an epidural.

Music has come up as a topic because at first I was adamantly opposed to having any during labor.  I’ve never been a person who could focus if there was music in the background.  When I’m riding in the car with someone I have to choose between conversation or music.  I simply can’t do both.  This is odd, because in most other parts of my life I am an incredibly competent multi-tasker.

I’m always interested to read about writers who have playlists for their novels; songs or albums that they listened to incessantly while revising or grinding out that first draft.  I know that if I tried to listen to music while writing the lyrics would end up interspersed between the sentences and nothing would make sense.

Lately though I’ve been thinking that music might be just what I want during labor.  It could be that I don’t want to be so present in my mind, so focused on exactly what I’m experiencing, and music could be just the thing to distract me.

Music while you work?  Does it work for you?