THE DREAM I dreamt that I had a baby and that she was having some sort of shakes and muscle issues on her back. Some doctor then said she had autism and the muscle things were somewhere that they could operate on. She was amongst a few babies in the operating room, and then the next thing I know the operating staff said that 'that's it, call it' and she died. Obviously I was devastated, crying with my husband. Then I saw her as a little girl about 5 on a hospital bed and I cuddled her.

THE REALITY The dreamer was working in a children's intensive care unit. They had a baby staying who would have to be on life support for the rest of his life because of a brain problem whilst sleeping. Whilst awake he needed help breathing but smiles and interacts like a normal baby. The previous day the parents decided that they did not want this life for their child. The baby was the subject of major ethical discussions amongst the staff. The dreamer even talked about it with her husband. She trying for a baby herself.

THE INTERPRETATION Many dreams are linked to the previous day. It is easy to see how this dream links to a major ethical issue the dreamer was thinking about the previous day at work. In real life the dreamer was thinking about a child whose parents had decided to turn off the life support machine. In the dream a child dies.

The moment in the dream when the operating staff say 'that's it, call it' clearly mimics the act of turning off a life support machine.

The dream is mostly emotional. The child is seen as a five year old - that is the dreamers way of thinking about how the child would have grown up.

Clearly the dream is about this one event. We can never truly understand what a dream means but we can always guess. In cases like this the dreamer is thinking about what might have been. Often we use dreams to present us with an alternative point of view. In this case the dreamer is looking emotionally at the situation. She is thinking how the child might have turned out. She is thinking about all the reasons the baby should live.

The dream also features an operation. It this sense the dreamer is also thinking through what can be done - represented by the operating room. Its likely that the dreamer has thought through the various ethical arguments but really the emotional sided of things.

Dream Dictionary Symbols
AUTISM : "Symbolic of diseases that the baby at work suffers from"
OPERATE : "Thinking that the baby in real life could live - that something could be done"
CRYING : "The dreamer is crying because this issue touches her personally as she was trying for a baby"
BABY DIES : "The baby in real life - nothing could be done for it"

DREAM MEANING The dream captures the following emotions within the dreamer - "The parents of a baby at work have decided to turn off his life support machine. I found it sad because he is able to smile. It makes me very emotional because I am trying for a baby myself. Its probably true that nothing can be done for the child but still its all very sad."

See how the different symbolic meanings join together to capture a key feeling from the night before