My 11 year old came in to my room on 11th Jan at 6:30am really sobbing his heart out. I asked what was wrong to which he replied, I had a dream that dad had died. It took me ages to convince him that his dad was fine, told him to go downstairs to see for himself (my hubby couldnt get up the stairs so slept downstairs). He was over the moon once he saw his dad. On 12th Jan at 7am my hubby woke me up (he had an intercom to wake me if needed) and asked me to get an ambulance as he wasnt feeling well. He died at 11:20am.
I spoke to a medium that i see and she said, kids see things that adults dont. As you get older, you block out things like that. Now though, my son wont go upstairs on his own as he's too scared and my house always looks like blackpool illuminations as he feels safer with all the lights on. He hasnt seen anything else for a couple of weeks now thankfully.
So your dreams have been a sort of like softener for you. They cushion the blow.