As many of you know (because I’ve been complaining about it in all of my posts), I’ve had a cold for a long time. I finally went to the doctor yesterday and was given an antibiotic and a cough syrup with codeine. Normally, codeine doesn’t bother me but last night the medicine made my dreams really weird. And they all involved the same theme – Babies/Pregnancy. What a surprise!
In one dream, I was living with a lovely couple, admiring and playing with their baby (who was a few months old). I desperately loved the baby, even though she wasn’t mine and I wasn’t related to her. Then, for no particular reason, I gave her a piece of popcorn to eat. Nothing bad happened, but her father yelled at me, saying “What were you thinking? Don’t you know babies can choke on popcorn?” Even after he calmed down, I felt so terrible about putting the baby in jeopardy. I do know better, and I don’t know why I would do something so dangerous. I kept saying I was sorry, secretly thinking “how stupid can you be?”
Clearly, this dream was about me struggling with the idea that I am not fit to be a mother, and that is why I am not able to get pregnant. I know that is not the way it works, as is evidenced by all of the people who aren’t fit to be mothers who do get pregnant. But no matter how many times I tell myself that I will be a good mother, and my infertility is not punishment for some sin I haven’t yet committed, my subconscious refuses to give this idea up.
In another dream, I was getting my first ultrasound and I went home to tell my husband that I was pregnant (not sure why he didn’t know already, but whatever…it was a dream). He said “Great.” Then, he paced the floor and got sweaty. He kept trying to pick a fight with me and eventually said “I can’t do this. I thought it was what I wanted, but it isn’t. I think you should terminate the pregnancy.” My heart broke as I walked out the door, suitcase in hand, hoping he would change his mind when he calmed down.
That dream was also pretty easy to analyze, but no so easy to go through. My husband and I have been getting into lots of little quarrels lately. I secretly am certain that it is because we are close to heading into a new ART cycle. My husband pushes me away emotionally whenever we start a cycle. He is more moody than I am when I’m on the meds, but he is oblivious to the fact that he is behaving so badly, much less conscious of why he is behaving that way. And although I know the constant bickering is about him steeling himself against the pain of another failure, and not about me…it hurts. And it also makes me scared. If his fear of what is to come makes him abandon me emotionally when we are just trying to get pregnant, what is going to happen when I actually get pregnant? Is he going to freak out?
There’s another way to analyze that dream, too. Some psychologists theorize that we are actually every person in each of our dreams – every character is just a reflection of a piece of ourselves. If that is the case, then this dream could also be about me being afraid that when I finally get pregnant and have a child, I am going to find that it isn’t everything I had hoped for. I don’t ever say that out loud…as if that doubt’s very existence will keep me from getting pregnant. But I do worry about changing my mind about what I want in life. Lots of mothers tell me that they had no idea how hard motherhood would be and that as much as they love their children, they might do it differently if they had to do it over. What if I become that person? What if I have a baby only to wish that I didn’t have a baby? Am I capable of that? And knowing what women go through, what I’ve gone through, to have a baby…could I survive the guilt I would have if I felt that way?
I wish I could be a real fairy tale princess sometimes and just sleep in a deep sleep, only to wake up and find that all of my good dreams had come true and my bad dreams had been dealt with by someone else. Real fairy tale princesses don’t get terrorized by their own psyche. Real fairy tale princesses don’t wake up feeling guilty and afraid. And real fairy tale princess don't have to fess-up, anonymously to friends they've never met, to having horrible doubts and fears.
3 comments:
Its amazing, every post of yours I relate to, its like you're my own mind writing in a much more eloquent way. I wrote a post today about how unfair it is that I've lost my innocence through all of this. Mostly thinking of DH and I and how things have changed. I hope a baby will fix it but one of my biggest fears is that it will never go back...
Great insight.... Just this weekend I was feeling pretty down and I start berating myself... telling myself why am I even going through this when having a child will only make life harder and more expensive.... yet I still want to go through it. Hope it makes you feel better to know we're all thinking the same kinds of thoughts. :-)
You are such an amazingly prolific writer... I admire you so much for being able to pump out such eloquent posts :)) Wish I could be a real fairy princess too xoxo
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