Following the birth of Jack, our new little bundle of joy, Amanda and I were automatically enrolled in the hospital’s rigorous four-day baby boot camp in the maternity ward. It was there, under the watchful gaze and guidance of our hardheaded instructor, Nurse Linda, that we learned what it would take to become parents.

To feed, clean, wipe, dress, wash, swaddle, cuddle, and comfort a little baby at all hours of the day and night.

No stranger to being in charge, Nurse Linda packed our basic training regimen with a variety of cruel and invasive sleep deprivation experiments, parental survival training classes, and a long series of never-ending physical and mental drills that would test us at every turn.

But would we survive? And if so, how? As we would soon find out, having a baby was very serious business.

Very serious business, indeed.