Weird Dreams

I've sometimes taken medication that have caused, as a side effect, very vivid dreams. The one I remember best was Diamox, which I took for altitude sickness during a trip to Bogota, Colombia. It didn't seem to help the symptoms of the altitude sickness (shortness of breath, nausea, headache, insomnia), but when I could sleep, I had crazy dreams - very vivid, realistic dreams where it was difficult to forget them on waking. I remember waking up, speaking to DH in English (we usually speak in Spanish) as a continuation of the dream, and both of us being very confused. It's funny that I can't find vivid dreams listed as a side effect of Diamox now, but I remember reading that at the time... Go figure.

At any rate, being pregnant has been like 24 weeks give or take of vivid dreaming. Alas, no lucid dreaming (where you're conscious of your dreaming state and can sometimes even control what happens in the dream). I've read it's pretty common to have wacky dreams during pregnancy, though all I've read suggests that the dreams are usually baby related thematically.

I've had several of those - that the baby came premature (and a boy) and needed to be in the NICU for awhile. Several where I've forgotten that I was pregnant and gotten totally drunk - those were mostly in the first trimester where I was trying to get used to not drinking. So far I haven't had the pregnant with an alien/parasite dream. But I'm expecting it.

Last night, however, I had the most unusual dream I've had in awhile. It was very vivid and realistic, with all kinds of believable details. I had just finished medical school (which, in non-dream life, I've never considered attending) and was starting an internship at a hospital. I was initially very disoriented, but was actually attending an orientation where a group of us were being shown where to go and what to do, etc.

There was some issue about the scrubs and shoes I was wearing, but it got sorted out. My group started out on rounds - I think there was a movie-like montage of interns trying to keep up with rounds - and then I was leaving the hospital at the end of a long first day. I'd learned lots, and I was extremely tired, happy and proud of myself.

I woke up, not immediately realizing that the dream wasn't real. For a good bit of time - well, several minutes - I was savouring this happiness and pride that I felt for that first good day in my internship. I saw DH beside me, and began planning how I'd tell him about it. Then I remembered I'd never been to medical school, nor interned at a hospital, and I'm not a doctor.

I can't describe how disappointed I was. My current life, with which I am very happy, felt like a great big failure, for a few minutes this morning. Then I remembered that I'm pregnant and that cheered me up a bit. It's unusual for me to be disappointed when I realize a dream isn't true. And the dream has stuck with me all day, which is also unusual for me.

Anyone feel like interpreting the dream for me? Any good pregnancy dreams to share?

Photo Credit: Elfleda