{"id":1015,"date":"2025-06-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/doze\/?p=1015"},"modified":"2025-06-06T15:52:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T14:52:57","slug":"mourning-sickness-grieving-the-a-we-only-meet-in-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/doze\/2025\/06\/01\/mourning-sickness-grieving-the-a-we-only-meet-in-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Mourning sickness: Grieving the baby we only meet in dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Emily woke up in a panic. She couldn\u2019t feel the baby moving anymore. She pressed on her stomach, each time pushing a little harder and a little further, hoping to feel the movement again. But there was nothing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moments before, she had felt the kicks in her stomach, so why was the baby still now? Was something wrong? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She sat bolt upright and stared at the wall opposite her bed blankly as it dawned on her that she was now awake. There were no kicks. There had been no baby. In the last eight hours, her subconscious had devised an entirely new life for her, and as she sat there, feeling empty, she longed for it back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWhere has my baby gone?\u201d Emily asked herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe movement had felt so real; how could it possibly have been a dream?\u201d she thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily\u2019s grief over her lost child may have felt isolating, and it\u2019s a feeling echoed by many women, especially on social media. A quick search on TikTok yields thousands of videos from women sharing eerily similar stories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some mentioned the same empty feeling; for others, it was the fear that the dream had a hidden meaning, and some felt confused over their sudden desire for children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Emily sat there, she started to wonder what the dream had meant. Did she want children now? Was her subconscious trying to convey something to her? Was a pregnancy test called for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Bowes, a psychotherapist who specialises in dream interpretation, explains that there are several scientific explanations for why we dream about certain things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost agree that dreams are a form of processing emotional experiences. When we are asleep, our prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for cognitive functions, is at rest. The limbic system, the area responsible for emotions, shows increased function of up to 30% during REM sleep.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is incredibly beneficial and a valuable way to heal from things that are emotionally distressing in our lives,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Mr Bowes explains that what we see while we are asleep isn\u2019t always a literal representation of those emotions. \u201cQuite often, we use metaphorical constructs to describe emotions so that these dreams can be an expression of a wish, or desire, or concerns, but they aren\u2019t always literal. Pregnancy can be a symbol of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, ask yourself, \u2018What is happening in your life that you want to give birth to? What feelings are you pregnant with?\u201d He says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more dream-related content:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n