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Dreaming About Being Pregnant? Experts Explore 13 Reasons Why

Pregnant woman sleeping on sofa
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Whether you don’t want to bear children, deeply long to be pregnant, or don’t think much about it at all, you might find yourself dreaming that you’re pregnant. Autumn Fourkiller, the mystic and writer behind the Dream Interpretation for Dummies newsletter, says such dreams may be more common now than ever. “I think that pregnancy dreams might have seen an uptick since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. More generally, it is common to have pregnancy dreams when working on a big project, when in an especially creative mood, or when feeling overwhelmed.”

In fact, pregnancy dreams rarely have anything to do with pregnancy at all. “Pregnancy dreams are typically connected to something else in your life that is in a growing and development phase,” says Lauri Loewenberg, a professional dream analyst and author. “Plans that are in the works, or maybe a degree that’s in the works, that will, when it comes to fruition, result in a new life for you.”

Loewenberg says pregnancy dreams are ways for your subconscious to communicate feelings that are harder to unpack in the waking world. “When you’re within the dream and your subconscious is in control, you’re being forced to focus on things that you might be ignoring or turning a blind eye to or not acknowledging. So the dream gives us a better understanding of our current situation by presenting it to us in a different light.”

Continue reading for Loewenberg’s and Fourkiller’s interpretations of various dreams about being pregnant and how they might relate to what’s happening in your life when you’re awake.

1.

If you dream that you just conceived …

“No matter where you are within [your dream] pregnancy it will directly reflect where you are as far as some kind of new growing and developing thing in your life,” Loewenberg says. “So if you’re at the point where you’re just peeing on the stick, then something is just beginning.”

2.

If you dream that you’re in the third trimester …

Loewenberg says the gestation of the pregnancy in your dream is directly related to the progress of your goal or project. “If you’re at the third trimester then you’re about to come to the end of this road, and whatever it is you’ve been working on is about to come to fruition.”

3.

If you dream of having morning sickness …

While morning sickness can be a natural part of pregnancy, Loewenberg says its presence in a pregnancy dream might indicate emotional unease about something in your life that’s growing. “Something in this process of whatever you’re working on, it could even be relationship, something about it doesn’t feel right to you. So you would need to ask yourself, okay, is this just a natural process of this project, this relationship, this degree, whatever it is, or is this something unnecessarily making me feel awkward or wrong. Is there some kind of unhealthy aspect of this that I need to look at and correct?”

4.

If you dream you’re pregnant with twins or triplets …

“Maybe you’ve got two things on the burner, or maybe there’s several aspects to this one thing,” Loewenberg explains. “And so it may feel like you’re juggling a lot of things and your subconscious is relaying it to you in the form of multiple fetuses.”

5.

If you dream you give birth, but misplace your baby and lose it …

“That would indicate that this could be a warning from her subconscious that something she’s been working on — perhaps she’s allowed to get lost in the shuffle of life,” Loewenberg says. “Don’t lose sight of this thing because it is something that you grew and labored over. You know, and don’t belittle its significance. Don’t lose sight of it.”

6.

If you dream that you’re pregnant with a non-human baby …

Loewenberg shares, “That would indicate that this new development in your life is something that seems foreign to you. It’s not something you’ve encountered before. It feels alien, doesn’t feel familiar to us. So it would be a message from your subconscious that you’d need to familiarize yourself with this new situation.”

Fourkiller adds that these sorts of dreams have been gaining traction in her inbox as of late. “Typically, the inhuman baby is a frightening monster, a beast that has to be tamed,” she says. “I see this as a representation of the dark spaces inside of all of us, the things we like to hide. Though as my boyfriend Carl Jung once said: ‘The shadow is ninety percent pure gold.’”

Conversely, Fourkiller notes, “If the inhuman baby is silly, say like a burrito or a rainbow Beanie Baby you ruined by taking it out of its glass case (sorry, Mom), I suggest tapping into the ridiculousness of life, of all its tiny humors. Let yourself relax, loosen your grip on sensibility, or you may just have to put 20 burrito–Beanie Baby children through college.”

7.

If you dream your ex got you pregnant …

Dreaming of the ex is, I would almost say, equally as common as the pregnancy dream because they’re reported to me all the time,” says Loewenberg. “So that being said, if you dream your ex got you pregnant, that’s a very good indication that you’ve learned an awful lot from that relationship. In a sense, that relationship has allowed you to give birth to a new part of yourself. The pregnancy would represent all this new knowledge and wisdom that is growing and developing within you, thanks to that ex.”

Photo: ioseph/Getty Images

8.

If you dream that you go into labor but can’t feel pain …

“When that’s the case and you don’t feel the labor and there’s no pain, it’s like one of those sayings: don’t sweat it, piece of cake,” Loewenberg says. Despite the well-documented reality that labor can be incredibly painful, it’s actually pretty common to dream about a painless labor. “Your subconscious is telling you don’t worry, this isn’t going to be painful in any way. Just finish this project, finish this degree, just get it done.”

9.

When you dream you’re in pain during labor …

“Here’s the thing about physical pain in a dream: When you feel pain in a dream, it’s most often connected to emotional pain in real life,” Loewenberg says. “So this could be telling you that this is beginning to emotionally drain you, but then again, it’s also at the very end of your pregnancy. So you know, you just keep pushing. You’re almost there.”

10.

10. If you dream about having an ugly baby …

While babies are all beautiful in their own way, you may find yourself in a dream where you’re pregnant with, or give birth to, a not-so-cute baby. Loewenberg says this type of dream can indicate that there is a new element to your life that you’re displeased about. “Your subconscious is saying, There’s an unpleasant situation that has developed in your life, but you have brought it upon yourself. You’re the one that gave birth to this.

11.

If you dream that you give birth out of your head or another unusual body part …

You may think dreaming of having a baby through your hands might be completely random, but Loewenberg says those small details can help you unlock meaning from your dream. “You need to pay close attention to which part of your body the baby comes out of, because your subconscious chose that part for a reason. Then ask yourself, What typically is this body part used for? The head is used for thinking and ideas. And so [that] dream is all about giving birth to a new way of thinking.”

12.

If you dream about having an abortion …

“Dreaming you had an abortion could either be a reliving of a past event or a sign that it’s time to give up the ghost, so to speak,” explains Fourkiller. “Perhaps you’ve recently decided to quit something or to move onto a new venture. Perhaps you, for the first time, are exercising your autonomy! A dream about abortion to me revolves completely around choice.”

13.

If you dream about miscarrying …

Whereas Fourkiller believes abortion dreams are all about “exercising choice,” she says “a dream about a miscarriage is about grieving the loss of something, whether that be a decision you didn’t want to make or something that was out of your hands. You lost something, and it is okay to grieve it however you see fit.”

The takeaway: Ultimately, your dreams (pregnancy-related or not) are an insight to things you’ve been thinking about or dealing with in recent memory. “Whatever goes on in your dream tonight is usually connected to something that happens today,” Loewenberg says. “So when you wake up in the morning, and you’re looking at your dream, and you’re examining it, the best thing to do is to compare everything in the dream to what happened yesterday, compare the emotions in your dream to how you were feeling yesterday.”

According to Fourkiller, one of the best ways to truly understand your dreams is to log them in a journal. “I’m a big advocate for the dreaded dream journal, even if it’s just a couple lines hastily typed into the Notes app. Given enough time, you’ll be able to recognize patterns in your dreamland.” She urges you to go easy on yourself in this process. “Don’t judge your dreams too harshly, especially if they are weird and feel incongruous. Letting them be is also letting yourself be, exactly as you are.”

When it comes to pregnancy dreams in particular — don’t freak out! — Fourkiller also urges you to consider whether there’s any chance you might actually be pregnant. “If the answer is a big ‘yes,’ not just a ‘well, maybe’ … a pregnancy test might not be amiss. I’m not here to be a fearmonger! Just trust your gut. Sometimes your subconscious knows before you do.” If the answer is “no,” she suggests a different course of action. “Ask yourself what you want to shepherd into the world, what you are already shepherding. Is it fulfilling to you? Are you burdened by it? You don’t always have to raise something up until it can stand on its own two feet, but if you really want it, if it really resounds with you, maybe you should!”

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