Pregnant Dreams

In the past week, I have lost my twenty-one-month-old daughter at a store; I have failed to protect her from a fall that resulted in a bad injury; I found out that my husband got another woman pregnant; and I kissed the boy that I was in love with throughout high school. My dream life is out of control, and it’s wreaking havoc on my emotions. As if I don’t already have enough to deal with being six months pregnant and having a toddler to chase after—my fantasy life is making me feel like a mess.

Fortunately, I’m not the only one. One friend recently told me about dreaming that her first-born child turned out to be a dog. Another friend started having orgasmic sex dreams about Matt Damon after her doctor told her that she needed to be on pelvic rest for the final six weeks of her pregnancy. Pregnancy can cause all sorts of crazy symptoms, including a much more active dream life.

Why does this happen? A recent study by Tore Nielsen, PhD, described in the September 2007 issue of the journal Sleep, concluded that there are several contributing factors. Increased emotional influence, sleep deprivation, and altered hormone levels all factor into the prevalence of dreams during pregnancy. This study supports the idea that it’s normal to have bizarre dreams during pregnancy. Not only is pregnancy often an emotional roller coaster ride for the mother-to-be, but body changes can disrupt sleep and hormone levels can be all over the place. These factors contribute to the wild dreams that commonly occur for women throughout pregnancy.

Although dreams during pregnancy can often be bizarre, they may be a helpful way for an expectant mother to get in touch with what she is experiencing emotionally. Our dreams can reflect emotional issues that our minds are trying to work through. Looking for themes in our dreams can lead to a better understanding of what we are going through emotionally, especially as we work through the anxiety of welcoming a new child into our life.