Could four of us having a baby together be the answer to parental burnout? I’m hoping to find out

‘We see co-parenting as a solution to living in a society that is simply not designed for having kids.’ Photograph: Bsip Sa/Alamy

I need to phone him; that’s the only way to do this without sounding deranged. How do you explain to a friend, via text, that you’d maybe like to have a baby with some of his friends that you met at his barbecue the other day?

My partner, Leo, and I have become a version of the “we saw you from across the bar and dig your vibe” meme – a poke at sexually adventurous couples looking for a “threesome”. We’re more like: “We saw you from across a gathering of thirtysomethings and wondered if you’d be down to help us redesign the nuclear family.”