When you are pregnant, sleep does not always come easily. When you do get some rest, you may awaken to find that you had some very, very strange dreams while you were asleep. Strange dreams are par for the course during pregnancy, and it should come as no surprise that there is a connection between these dreams and all of those hormones that have flooded your system.
In addition to an increase in the amount of dreams that women have during pregnancy, women are more likely to remember the dreams that they have while they are pregnant than they are at other times. Part of the reason behind the increase in ability to remember dreams is that the sleep of a pregnant woman is often interrupted by things like bathroom visits, heartburn, and of course, baby’s kicks. People are more likely to remember a dream if they wake during it or right after it, as opposed to the next morning.
Perhaps even more interesting than the dreams themselves is the fact that there are actually specific themes or items that women see in their dreams at specific stages of pregnancy. For example, water is common in the first trimester and animals are common during the second trimester. Dreams about journeys are common during the third trimester, and can be expressions of fear or anxiety about the unknown. Dreams about a hard or difficult labor may seem foreboding, but they are completely normal and do not have any actual correlation to whether or not a mother will have a difficult time during the actual labor and delivery. Oh, and that scary dream that you had? Those are normal too. You have a lot on your mind these days, and some of your subconscious hopes and fears play themselves out in your dreams.
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