dreams.

[I sit down on my brother's bed where Christian is napping - we're at my folks' for a short weekend visit after I attended a breastfeeding conference down here all day Friday. Christian is sleeping, which is what you do with your spare time when you're in medical school.]

I nudge him a little.
Me: "Chris.....honey......"
Christian: (eyes still shut) "What?"
Me: "I think we should get ready and go hang out with your parents for a while."
Christian: "We won't have any insulin if we go over there....."
Me: "What???"
Christian: "What??? What are you asking me?"
Me: "Your parents' house?....."
Christian: "Oh...yeah, sure....20 more minutes...."

Bottom line: he is constantly dreaming about being at the hospital. I remember when I started working in the ICU, I had the worst dreams about forgetting to do things for my patients or missing things in my assessment that turned out to be crucial.  A few times I dreamed that I was taking care of a bunch of kids I went to high school with in my ICU. Very weird. Or sometimes I'd wake up in a cold sweat having dreamed I left the hospital to go to lunch (which you cannot do) and just didn't come back until the last hour of my shift. It's crazy how much stress will manifest itself in your dreams. I hope they let up a little for him soon.

I found in the past year working in public health and childbirth education I just dream about pregnancy. Being pregnant, being in labor, breastfeeding my babies, other people being pregnant, attending other people's births...I'm unsure how much of that is my inner midwife and how much of that is having a loving husband and 25-year-old ovaries controlling your dreams. I can say that as a birth enthusiast it's hard to complain about dreams like that. Much better than dreaming your old ex-boyfriend from sophomore year of high school is intubated and on an insulin drip.

Anybody else's work manifest itself in their dreams?

Finals week is upon me. Surgery rotation is upon Christian. God help us both.

Love,

Ash