No Need to Call the Authorities - It Was Just a Dream!

They say dreams stem from the subconscious mind. For that reason, until Tuesday night, I have only had one dream about our future wee one. I'm always consciously thinking about her, so she never has a chance to get to that deeper level of thought. Well, since I've been practicing my zen - live in the moment - techniques, she slipped into my subconscious mind and I had my second dream about her. It was a weird, yet somehow loving dream, with strong Freudian undertones.

Here's what I dreamt and possible interpretations:

In my dream, Picard and I were at home getting ready for dinner at a casino-like place. Although the getting ready scene did not physically have the baby, we were discussing the baby as though she was there. When we were driving away to go to the casino, I looked into the yard and watched the baby playing in a small pile of leaves by the side of the road, where the curb meets the street. She had black hair and appeared to be about 12 months old. I said to Al, "Do you think it's o.k. to leave her here by herself?" He said, "I think so." I said, "I'm not sure, I think we're supposed to take her."

Fast forward and we're having dinner at the casino. Picard and I spend the whole time debating whether we should have left the baby at home by herself. I said, "I'm really worried about her; I don't think we were supposed to leave her by herself." He said, "Yeah, I'm really worried too." When Picard said he was worried, I thought in my mind - He really does want a baby - look - he's so worried about her.

So, we rush back home to find the baby. At first we can't find her; she's not by the road. So, we keep looking and end up finding her in a hole that looks like some sort of animal nest in the base of a large tree. I am so absolutely relieved and full of glee when we find her. I say, "you're here!" and I scoop her up. (The feeling of scooping her up out of the tree is so delicious I still get snugly goose bumps thinking about it.) We take her inside and proceed to play with her on the living room floor.

Weird, right? I have a couple guesses about why we leave her at the beginning. I think the dream represents one of three things:
1. I know she will be abandoned by her birth parents and the leaving her behind mimics that process
2. I have deep seated fears that we may not be good parents
3. I've been watching too much t.v. and have incorporated a story very similar to that of baby Madeline into my dream.

Your interpretations?