I suspect you were having a false awakening.

Easy way to check in the future: just have an infrared camera recording while you sleep. : ) Then just check it in the morning, and see if you did a given signal at the time you thought you did. (eg 3 quick blinks)

Anyway, if in fact you were awake, the above is very interesting as I've never had dream sensations linger into the real world for more than a few short seconds.