Dreams of the Twilight Zone Variety

For some time now, all of my pregnancy books have been insisting that I should be having baby-related dreams. They say that you will either have fear-revealing dreams: falling, blood, partner being difficult, partner having an affair, baby being born with/without additional extremities, etc., etc. Or, you might have hope/excitement-revealing dreams: cuddling with your baby, baby animals that are cuddly, future events with your baby, dreams of flying/freedom. They say that in the third trimester you are especially likely to start having dreams focused on labor and birth.

Up until now, I had actually had no baby related dreams. Whether this shows a lack of concern or a lack of imagination, I don't know, but I haven't dreamed of baby in any way, shape, or form. Or, I should say I hadn't, until now. Two nights ago I had my first baby-related dream and it was a WEIRD one. It started off perfectly harmless. Chris and I were lying in bed and Orange Seed started to kick, so I reached down to put my hand on my belly. When I touched my belly, I could tell that the part of her that was poking at me was an elbow, so I grabbed Chris' hand excitedly and said, "Feel this!" Chris reached down to feel her little elbow and that's when things got weird. We felt her elbow and then started to see if we could identify other parts of her. There was her arm, her head, her legs, her feet, and my dream-self suddenly realized that this was way more of her than we should have been able to identify and lifting back the covers, we looked down, and there she was - on the OUTSIDE. Except she wasn't. She was still connected to me and though we could see all of her, she was still under my skin in some way, shape, or form that only your dream-self can accept and understand. Amazingly, we were totally calm in the dream, but I did point out to Chris that if she was already this big - too big to just remain unseen in the womb - then how in the world was there going to be room for her to grow another few inches and another 5-6lbs? We sat there looking at her little wriggling body and I just couldn't fathom it. There wasn't room!

And then I woke up and waking-me realized how totally bizarre the dream actually was. I suppose there's something to be said about dreams revealing your inner concerns. I had been thinking lately how tight my stomach has become. I get that it still isn't nearly as big as it will be, but on the days where it feels like it's being stretched to the point of popping, it is really hard to believe that it can get much bigger. All I can compare it to is a night where you ate WAY too much and you sit there, distended stomach stretched to the point of aching, cursing yourself for having forced down that last bite of chocolate cake (or burrito, or pizza, or ice cream...pick your poison). This is like that, only you know it's not going away anytime soon and that "last bite" occasionally kicks you in the ribs.