What does 「夢心地に呻き苦しんだ」mean?


I'm reading the _To the Little Ones_ story
([『小さき者へ』](http://www.suguru.jp/learn/chiisaki.htm)).

I wonder what does the writer mean in this sentence

> 電燈の消えた薄暗い中で、白いものに 包まれたお前たちの母上は、夢心地に呻き苦しんだ。

"呻き苦しんだ" has a negative meaning, right? and he puts before it "夢心地に" which has
a positive meaning so what does he mean? I don't get it.




The meaning of that sentence goes something like this:

> Lights out, your mother, wrapped in something white and in a trance, let out
> moans of pain in the dimness.

「夢心地」is thus defined in [goo
辞書](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%A4%A2%E5%BF%83%E5%9C%B0/):

> 夢のようなうっとりとした気持ち。ぼんやりとした心持ち。夢見心地。

I'd say it denotes a dreamy state that's not necessarily always "ecstatic",
although "ecstasy" is listed among its meanings in [some bilingual
dictionaries](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%A4%A2%E5%BF%83%E5%9C%B0).

「呻き苦しんだ」comes from the 連用形 of「呻く」(moan, groan) +「苦しむ」(suffer, groan), forming
a compound word that I believe is not very commonly seen these days. This
phrase you are having issues with just means the mother groaned in a state of
half-consciousness or unconsciousness.




The meaning of that sentence goes something like this:

> Lights out, your mother, wrapped in something white and in a trance, let out
> moans of pain in the dimness.

「夢心地」is thus defined in [goo
辞書](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%A4%A2%E5%BF%83%E5%9C%B0/):

> 夢のようなうっとりとした気持ち。ぼんやりとした心持ち。夢見心地。

I'd say it denotes a dreamy state that's not necessarily always "ecstatic",
although "ecstasy" is listed among its meanings in [some bilingual
dictionaries](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%A4%A2%E5%BF%83%E5%9C%B0).

「呻き苦しんだ」comes from the 連用形 of「呻く」(moan, groan) +「苦しむ」(suffer, groan), forming
a compound word that I believe is not very commonly seen these days. This
phrase you are having issues with just means the mother groaned in a state of
half-consciousness or unconsciousness.

