Is this a normal reaction to a nightmare?

[junipermuse]

So last night dd (2y9m) had a nightmare. She's had night terrors in the past, which can be pretty bad and emotionally draining for mom and dad, but this seems even worse. Her dream seemed to be something involving a mouse or a bunny (maybe both, its hard to tell from her description because she used both words). After waking up she remained terrified, every little sound or shadow made her scream. If I so much as moved my hand without warning her, she was sure it was a mouse or bunny brushing against her. This went on for hours. At one point I think we both fell asleep only to be awoken to her screaming about the mouse/bunny again. She also didn't even seem to feel safe snuggled up with me, she just wanted to be laying directly on top of me (which was very hard because it really made my back hurt). Her fear just seemed to last and last. She had the nightmare at 4 am and was still having bouts of terrified screaming at 7 am. Is this normal? What can we do to help calm and soothe her? Any advice or information would be appreciated.

[thixle]

No clue if it's "normal or not"
I just couldn't read and not post. As an adult, I have had dreams bad enough to make me pretty fearful for a couple hours (dark time) and often can't shake the bad feelings of nightmares for a day or two-- so no advice or anything.

[jnet24]

when ds does this we turn on lights and watch something quietly on tv to help keep his mind of of it. He ussually falls back to sleep within 15 minutes.