My Inner Chicken

I had THE oddest dream last night. Here goes:

I had a throbbing pain in my right big toe. It looked slightly swollen. I wondered what was wrong. Next thing I know, I'd given birth, via the toe (?!), to 6 very pretty blue-ish eggs which were nestled in a decorative glass pedastal bowl on my kitchen counter. I didn't dream the actual giving birth part. There was the throbbing toe, and then the dream cut right to the eggs on display. I remember thinking that I had always expected my offspring to arrive via live birth, but I figured "oh well, some women just lay eggs."

The next thing I remember, only one egg was left and it was hatching. My sister was there and I called her over to watch. Scott was in the other room on his blackberry and said he'd be there in just a minute, he was finishing an email. I was unconcerned by this.

As my sister and I hovered over the egg, a fissure appeared on the top and out popped a tiny fist, all "power to the people" style. The egg cracked further apart, and out wriggled a small red being that looked exactly like a just born kangaroo before it crawls up its mother's fur into her pouch to continue its gestation. I remained unphased, and thought that motherhood was really something.

The dream then jumped ahead to a point where the little kangaroo thingie had developed into a fluffy, peeping yellow chick. It looked at me and batted its eyes. I placed a small silver crown on its head, as I understood was customary and in fact my duty as its mother.

Then I woke up.

I think a good part of the dream derives from our recent David Attenborough marathon, and in particular last night's viewing of The Life of Mammals. We learned about Australian fauna such as the platypus, the only mammal to lay eggs, and the kangaroo. And chickens come out of eggs. Scott had to deal with a few work emails while we were watching, and I also talked to my sister the day before yesterday. And of course like many other women in their early 30's I'm trying to figure out the whole having a baby thing.

But having cleared all that up, I'm left wondering: why my toe??