In Main Street Mom ("for modern mothers with traditional values"), Michael Powers writes about getting all emotional and being all clueless while his wife was pregnant with their first child:
...after being 3 weeks overdue, the doctors decided to induce labor. So there we sat in the hospital waiting for something to happen. Kristi had wanted a CD player in the room so she could listen to relaxing music as she went through the huffing, puffing, and pushing. I thought it would be funny to put in a CD by Salt-N-Peppa [sic] and play their song called "Push It." So as soon as I was sufficiently bored of waiting, I turned the CD player on and out blasted:That was in 2000; I'm sure Kristi and her mom have forgotten all about it by now."PUSH IT! PUSH IT GOOD!"
I was so proud of my little joke.
When I looked up, I saw Kristi and her mom giving me the death stare. Not even a crack of a smile. I was grinning from ear to ear, but realized that if I wanted to be a part of this miracle and stay in the room I, had better turn it off in a hurry and put some soothing music on.
The New Father Fog [Main Street Moms]
Prior to my delivery, my husband and I made a ėmaternity mixî on the iPod and he went out and bought the portable Altec iPod speaker system ėfor the baby.î I did my best to make all the songs my favorites, or songs that were mellow or relaxing.
Unfortunately, about an hour after the pitocin kicked in and I began pushing, Coldplay came on and my husband looked in my eyes, while holding a leg, and sang, ėNobody said it was easyÖ No one ever said it would be so hard..î
When I was hanging around in the assessment room waiting for the stupid induction gel to get me past 4 cms dilated, I managed to get Johnny Cash singing "Hurt" stuck in my head. "I *focussed* on the pain"
Real helpful, that.
We brought Depeche Mode with us. The nurses, the OB/GYN and us had some kind of a party going on.
God damn that is funny. I hate it when I read something so good I wish I had thought of it too.
I've been waiting for someone to mention Cash's "Ring of Fire."