Post Partum -or- Rock a-bye-Baby
Dreamer: Rachael, 26, North American
I was pregnant and in labor. My husband, father, distant grandmother that I never see, a couple who are friends of ours who just had a baby, an older male friend of ours, and myself were in a Jeep Cherokee.(My previous car was a Jeep Cherokee) I was driving us to the hospital. I remember having these cramps (contractions) and I had the car accelerated as much as possible. The dream jumped and we were at the hospital. I was sitting in an old plastic covered chair naked. Everyone was sitting around me. I was squeezing for some reason like I was trying to keep something in.
All of a sudden I relaxed and blood came out of me, like my water had broken. I began to cry because the contractions worsened and the blood scared me. Everyone left the room except for the husband of the couple we are friends with. He just sat there in a daze staring at me. After that in the dream I felt as if I were in a black hole. I could not remember giving birth, just feeling tense at certain moments. I reached out to hold the baby and then I physically woke up. I never knew what the sex of the baby.
It seemed so weird because my husband and I are trying to conceive at this time and the dream was so detailed.
Mr. Hagen's Reply: Post Partum -or- Rock a-bye-Baby
As Lucy Goodison The Dreams of Women points out, bearing children is an important life adjustment for women. Not only are there physical changes, there are social, emotional and cognitive ones as well. These changes are registered in our dreams. The question that your dream seems to address is whether you and your husband are prepared for the stresses that the pregnancy, birth and aftercare of the newborn will bring?
Your feeling of being "in a black hole" and the husband of your friend (a stand in for your husband?) being in a daze and not able to lend you needed support and comfort all speak about your apprehensions of having a child.
Taken to the extreme the "black hole" could be viewed as a metaphor for "post partum depression" which some mothers feel after their ordeals. Planned Parenthood courses can prepare a couple with all the eventualities of the pregnancy and the care of the newborn. Most communities provide such courses for free or at a nominal fee.
From a popular culture perspective, the film Baby Blues (see film trailer) features a mother (based on a true story) who suffers a psychotic break from reality due to post partum depression. The popular Brahms children's lullaby "rock a-bye-baby" takes on new meaning at the end of the film.
Another good book that deals with pregnancy dreams is Patricia Garfield's "Women's Bodies, Women's Dreams".
Hope these thoughts are of help and provide some insight,
Mark H.