When pregnant women experience dreams that save lives
Being pregnant can be a real roller coaster. Samantha discovered this through the power of her dreams.
Sam is my niece. I was involved in the study of dreams at the School of Metaphysics during her pregnancy, so I was the first person she thought of when she wanted to talk about her dreams.
His “roller coaster dream” triggered a thought in my mind:
Do women have different types of dreams when they are pregnant?
A perfect opportunity to find out the answer was immediately available, as seven of my friends and family happened to be pregnant at the same time.
To further my research, I started a Dream Catcher group: a private group for sharing pregnancy dreams on Facebook. I invited my pregnant friends and family members to the group I created called Pregnancy Dreamers and ended up with eight members in all.
I was so curious. Were they all similar dreams of hers? Would they be violent or calm? Would they be about your physical or mental state of being? What might a pregnant woman’s subconscious be telling her during this life-changing time?
I learned this and much more. There can be life-saving miracles in our dream messages, when we know how to interpret them.
Sam is twenty-seven years old and has been trying to get pregnant for a while, so when she finally does, you can imagine her anxiety.
Sam has two dreams in one night:
DREAM NUMBER 1:
I had a dream last night where I was on a roller coaster and I wasn’t strapped in because I didn’t know it was a roller coaster and it went down and I held on for dear life. I started getting higher and higher right before I hit the bottom of the drop and I was really scared. SPECTRUM
DREAM NUMBER 2:
My second dream was that we were floating down the river (in an inner tube) and I had to go down by myself with the cooler and I couldn’t find Tyler (Sam’s husband). Just before we got into the water I couldn’t find a shirt that would fit me because my tummy was too big. SPECTRUM
“I was so scared when I woke up,” Sam’s anguish is real even as a dream memory. I want Sam to understand the meaning of his dreams to ease his fear.
Sam is good at remembering her dreams, but neither she nor the other pregnant dreamers know how to interpret them, so I open the group by telling them two rules of dream interpretation that I learned in my studies with the School of Metaphysics:
1. Every dream is about the dreamer
2. Everything and everyone in the dream is the dreamer.
“Dreams are messages from our intuitive and subconscious minds to our waking and conscious minds,” I explain. “The mind uses the Universal Language of Mind, a language of images, for communication.”
We discuss the symbols and their meanings using Dr. Barbara Condron’s Dictionary of the Dreamer as a reference. The Dream Catcher format extends learning beyond Sam, so all members of the Pregnancy Dreamers group will benefit. My dream group is about to see how dreams can save the life of a mother and her baby.
Sam’s perspective on life and his attitude towards his life are evident in these two dreams.
Both dreams begin with an attitude of fun. However, both dreams turn terrifying.
A roller coaster is a system that repeats within a frame just like the neural pathways in your brain. In a dream, a roller coaster symbolizes these roads. She tells Sam that she is locked into a certain way of thinking about her life. She is “not tied down”, which reflects unawareness or not paying attention to what is happening in the present.
moment.
The second dream is linked to the first by commenting on how Sam is moving through his everyday life experiences. This is symbolized by “floating on a river.” Sam is floating, cooperating with his life until he “comes down”, illustrating the unknown. Her dream is helping her admit her reaction to impending motherhood.
In both dreams, she loses control. She gets out of her comfort zone.
In the Universal Language of Mind, “clothing” represents how one expresses oneself. I know that Sam is very aware of how his emotions look in the outside world, wanting to show a strong and capable attitude. He immediately (and too quickly) began to think that this dream is about the ups and downs caused by hormonal changes during pregnancy. This is certainly applicable, but what happens during Sam’s waking life gives us all a deeper insight into women’s intuition and the power of dream interpretation.
The day after the dreams, Sam runs to the ER. She is admitted to the hospital. She is diagnosed with preeclampsia, a pregnancy disorder in which there is high blood pressure and large amounts of protein in the urine or other organ dysfunction.
Immediately, my mind flashes back to Sam’s dreams and gives me an idea that I couldn’t see before. Sam’s dreams contained codes about his health! Beneath the pregnancy fears and frequently experienced hormonal changes, there was another message that I might have seen in hindsight. From my studies, I knew that a dream is most often associated with the days just before the dream occurs. I had a living example of how dream interpretation includes the bigger picture of the dreamer’s waking life.
As a dream consultant, I now want to ask the dreamer about his thoughts and actions in the days leading up to the dream. I want to know if Sam had any indication of health problems before the dream.
“I knew the swelling was bad,” Sam confided. “I had pain in my right rib and I was seeing spots in my vision.” All of these are signs of preeclampsia. “I took a 24-hour urine test on Sunday and gave it to the doctor on Monday.” The camera of him Roller Coaster Dreams on Sunday night, between the two of them.
The next time I hear from Sam is after she gets out of the hospital. She tells me about a new dream.
ANOTHER roller coaster dream!!
We started off by going to a theme park and riding rides all day. We were standing in lines doing theme park stuff. (It was so real I had the “before riding jitters and sinking feeling”) At one point I became aware of the way Zachary (baby name) was lying on my belly, and his hand was under his head. He raised his head and yawned. I tried to tell my mom and sister but they ignored me and it made me sad. At the end of the day my mom and sister and I were making one last line to ride and I realized I was supposed to be on bed rest and I’m not supposed to be here and freaked out. I see a sign on the roller coaster saying I shouldn’t ride if I’m pregnant, so I cross the line. I look down and my feet are as swollen as when I entered the hospital. I felt scared, sad and disappointed in myself. Then I woke up. SPECTRUM
Last night I also dreamed of a roller coaster, but when I woke up I really wanted to go to the bathroom and when I went back to bed I completely lost sleep. I just knew it had something to do with roller coasters. It’s very rare that I keep dreaming about them.
This time I start by asking Sam about his thoughts and actions in the days leading up to the dream.
“My actual feelings for the past few days have been up and down,” she says. “I’m trying to stay positive and hopeful that everything will remain stable and smooth.
“Sometimes I get scared to think about what could happen. Preeclampsia can get really bad at any time. Because Zachary will be born a little early, I’m scared of the day he’s born. I try to keep thinking positive.
“So I’m up and down.”
The image of a roller coaster is an obvious symbol that we can all recognize.
“I know I’m scared and I’m trying to stay calm,” she says willingly, “but it’s hard. So it’s possible that I’m not really calming down like I keep trying to tell myself I am. I’m scared for myself. me and my baby Last night I was nervous before bed because I wasn’t feeling 100% and I was afraid to go to sleep if it got worse.
“I have been trying to be so strong for everyone around me not to cause them concern, and here I realize that I have to tell you the truth so that we can find out what these dreams mean.”
Sam’s warning gave us permission to work together on his dreams. We came to the conclusion that his subconscious mind was once again warning him about the seriousness of his condition. The reason we have recurring dreams is because we didn’t listen the first time. The subconscious mind will keep trying to give us its message and the conscious mind has to be ready to receive it.
The surprising thing about this dream is the sign that clarifies: DO NOT DRIVE IF YOU ARE PREGNANT.
Sam told me that her sister represents a stubborn side of herself. This is the aspect of Sam who tries to appear strong so that others don’t worry about his situation. This dream advised Sam to put aside her stubborn thoughts and take care of herself and her baby first and foremost.
As we worked together, Sam realized that he had been ignoring his spiritual ideals, symbolized in his dream by his swollen feet. “Feet” in the Universal Language of the Mind represents spiritual foundation. His swollen feet were in the dream to get his attention. To emphasize this spiritual need, her mother, who represents her superconscious mind, was ignoring her. Sam was ignoring her situation, trying to appear strong and deal with everything internally. It was time to quiet his mind, let her body heal, and let others help.
I explained a concentration routine that involved a simple diaphragmatic breathing technique. After this discussion, she messaged me this:
“Did some deep breaths tonight. 10 minute meditation like you said. And no more dwelling on ‘what ifs’ that I have no control over and have to get over this. Getting ready for bed. I plan to focus on my breathing when I’m trying to fall asleep. I hope I’m on my way to fixing this anxiety and that’s what my body has been trying to tell me to do. Thank you and I love you!”
The women in my Pregnancy Dreamer group learned a lot from Sam’s dream experience. They realized that dreams can actually save lives. Sam learned to listen to her inner self and not be too proud to ask for help. She was not alone. Dreams contain important messages from our subconscious mind, the source of our dreams. Hearing them and applying them to waking life supports the progression of the soul.
Sam and the other dreamers in my group continued to dream throughout their pregnancies. His dreams had many of the same themes. Breaking and entering was actually the most common topic during pregnancy of all. Amusement parks, guns, no one helping and no one listening were common.
Although the dreamers in our group also experienced varied dreams, the number of similar dreams led me to the conclusion that pregnant dreamers have many of the same fears and anxieties that are reflected in common themes. I now believe that pregnant dreamers have different dreams than other women.
I am thankful that by having this dream sharing group, I was able to get the attention of people who normally would not have paid attention to their dreams. The opportunity helped alleviate some of the misinterpretation of the women, which would normally have caused more fear.
The experiences also lead to many of the group members continuing to share dreams even after giving birth. In turn, I also learned a lot about dream consultation and how important the dreamer’s input is for the interpretation. By incorporating this back-and-forth discussion into my dream interpretation sessions, I will know better how to advise the dreamer to apply their dream to their waking life, which I believe is the ultimate goal of a dream interpretation coach.