Music has always played a big part in my life. My sister, brother, and I always put on performances around the house while we were growing up. I sang in chorus all throughout elementary and secondary school and was originally a voice major in college. I’m trying to teach myself violin now (with limited success), and the house is filled with various Guitar Hero and Rock Band instruments. There’s never a day where I’m not singing some random tune or the television is playing a Sirius/XM station in the background because there is nothing good on television.

We want to expose E. to all different kinds of music to see what excites and soothes him. I’m not one of those structured moms who schedules exposures based on genre, time period, or potential high school performance. I originally looked at the Nuvo Ritmo Pregnancy Sound System and the Belly Buds, but eventually decided against them because we weren’t planning on extended periods of exposure. Honestly, babies in utero don’t need to be under a constant musical assault. They need their sleep too.

What we decided to do was establish an evening ritual of my husband reading the What to Expect When You’re Expecting iPhone app daily update while I lie in bed and then play one or two songs from YouTube off of the iPhone. We would put the iPhone on the same spot on my belly, and I could feel E. “slime down” (it’s the phrase I use for his ninja-sneaking) to be near the phone when the music was playing. Some nights he would kick around the phone and sort of bubble right underneath it. (Bubbling is not quite kicking, not quite punching. It’s definitely a set of little movements near the surface though.)

Why do we think he likes it? Well, I can feel him move towards the source of the music. We know that he historically hates intrusive electronic things; for example, he moves away from the fetal doppler. (It is a little funny to feel him dart away from the doppler and watch the midwife try to chase him to get a solid reading.)

What kind of music is his favorite? After a lot of trial and error, he consistently likes ragtime music, specifically Scott Joplin. He tends to be most active and huddled under the phone for piano pieces. He does not like more chaotic pieces like “Rhapsody in Blue” by Gershwin. (E. drew back away from the phone and away from the surface for that one.)

We decided to go one step further from hunting down music on YouTube. We created a station with the Pandora iPhone app based on “The Entertainer” by Scott Joplin. It now serves up music along a similar vein every night for us.

Perhaps you’re asking, aren’t you worried about radiation exposure… we aren’t. It’s 2 – 5 minutes of direct belly exposure every night. He probably gets more radiation exposure from me sitting in front of my laptop at home or the computer systems at work. We’re hoping this early exposure and activity will translate to more activity during tummy time once he’s born. We intend to play his Scott Joplin Pandora station then too.

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