I've had a lot of screwed dreams in my life, but most of them were strange, not nightmares. One nightmare I did have occurred just after I had watched my ex-wife give birth to our daughter. I was strong and supportive for the sake of my young wife but when I went home I had 2 nasty dreams. The first one involved a man who was grabbing dogs by their snouts and ripping their upper jaw from their lower. On the rare occasion where I have nightmares, I usually wake up right away. This was no exception. however, when I returned to my slumber, I dream't that my ex and I were sitting a beach and the tide kept trying to pull her away from me. I kept trying to protect her but the tide was winning. My mind then woke me up, and I wasn't able to stop shaking nor sleep for the rest of the night.