I have WMD

That's Worried Mothers Disease.

Symptoms: Asking yourself questions like, "Why isn't my child awake yet? Did the peas he ate for the first time yesterday cause a silent allergic reaction in the middle of the night? Was there a piece of plastic in the peas container that he had somehow swallowed without pain, but now is causing his stomach to bleed? Am I playing with my child enough? What if I am playing with him too much? I should be talking to him more, but what do I say? What if he's not smart because I didn't talk enough/play enough/played too much and didn't let him be independent?"

Onset: Symptoms typically occur shortly after the birth of one's first child; however, some patients may notice symptoms immediately after a positive pregancy test.

Treatment: There is no known cure for WMD. Some fathers have found success treating their ailing WMD wives with a straight jacket and tranquilizer. Lots of alcohol might also do the trick, but this won't help those breastfeeding with WMD.

As of 6:30 this morning, I officially self-diagnosed myself with WMD. Last night we went to another ASU baseball game. This makes four games that Caleb has attended since Thursday, with one more planned for later today. He's been such a champ and everyone loves him. We've gotten off of his bedtime schedule a bit, and we weren't quite sure how that would affect his sleep. The past few days, it hadn't affected things at all. No matter what time we get him home and into bed, he still wakes up at 5:00am. This was getting a bit frustrating for Andrew and I since we were getting less and less sleep. Last night we got home from the game, gave him a bath, gave him a talk about sleeping until at least 6am, nursed him, and got him to sleep just before 10pm. At 10:20, I was ripped from my sleep to my child crying in pain. I still don't know what the cause of that was, but I checked his diaper and nursed him back to sleep. The first time I heard him after that was shortly after 5am. I thought for sure he'd be up for the day, but not another peep was uttered. A little after 6am, the loudest emergency vehicle I've ever heard came barreling down the street adjacent to our house. Andrew and I were again ripped from sleep, but not a peep from Caleb. Of course, at that point I couldn't go back to sleep, my mind filled with worry from the dreaded WMD. I begged Andrew to let me go check on him, but being the level headed dad that he is, he assured me that Caleb was fine. Oh, and if he wasn't fine, what was I going to be able to do about it? Thanks, that made me feel so much better. Fortunately, Andrew was right (as usual) and everything was fine. Caleb finally woke up around 7:15 this morning. Oh, how I'd love it if this were the start of a new "sleeping in" trend!