on my second night of attempting MILD, I set my alarm for 6 and woke up for 20 mins, then laid flat on my back repeating "I will realize I am in a dream" in my head over and over again. I did start to feel a slight amount of pressure on my chest so I began to think it was working, but after a half hour I decided to sleep on my side since its easier for me to fall asleep that way. when I woke up around 7:30 in my own bed, it was dark in my room which I found odd because my room is light in the morning. the first thing I did was look at my left hand. if I'm not mistaking, I had 6 fingers on my left hand (an extra next to my pinky). after that, the dream started to fade and it was getting blurry so I quickly tried to get up out of bed. I then heard a sound similar to the sound your ears make when they pop after getting off an airplane.

that being said, I have several questions:
was that a lucid dream, a false awakening, or both? has that ever happened to anybody else? what can I do to make my dream last more than 5-10 seconds? what caused me to wake up? and what would you suggest I do if I have trouble keeping unrelated information out of my head (music stuck in my head or other stuff going on in life) while trying to perform the MILD or any other method? and if I am a beginner, what method of lucid dreaming would you suggest? I am 100% dedicated and have been doing reality checks and sleep journals so please don't suggest that.

sorry this post was on the long side but I appreciate anyone who reads this and comments