It is Miłosz who should be telling this story. However, it is very difficult for him to talk about it, just as it was difficult for him to accept that our efforts to have a child took several years due to the very low sperm count in his semen.

I met Miłosz shortly after university. I moved from Poznań to Warsaw. I knew practically no one in the capital. Most of my friends went abroad after university or stayed in Poznań. I got a job at a pharmaceutical company in Warsaw. I really hoped to make new friends in the laboratory where I worked. I was not disappointed. Already on the second day I met my future husband.

Miłosz worked in the HR department and I, as a lab technician, joined the research team. There was an immediate spark between us. Already at the weekend we went on our first date. And so for the first few years we didn't think about children at all.

We were living very comfortably, everything was going our way. Miłosz changed jobs, I was promoted. We bought a flat together, and during the following holidays we decided to get married. Somewhere along the way we both turned 30 and the thought of children came up. We didn't consider at all that we might have any problems getting pregnant. Of course, we both had friends who were struggling with infertility, but it didn't even occur to us that we would also have to wait for a child.

I prepared for the 'baby project' as if it were another task at work. I read several books, started browsing parenting websites, made an appointment with my doctor for a basic check-up and with my gynaecologist for a cytology. I gave up my favourite fast food and signed up for a swimming pool. I quickly shed a little excess weight, and Milosz, who had been saying for several years that I should take better care of myself, was impressed. He himself regularly exercised, ran and made sure he ate a healthy diet. Of the two of us, I was the one who was perpetually struggling with my weight and craving sweets after midnight. But we both really wanted a baby, so for the first time in my life I managed to lose a few pounds and eat healthily. Month by month, our patience slowly ran out. And the two lines on the test, as they were not there, were not there.

After eleven months, we said enough and signed up for our first appointment at an infertility clinic. The doctor who admitted us ordered tests for both of us. Miłosz was very stressed about the semen test. At the very next appointment, it turned out that the reason we hadn't been able to get pregnant so far was asthenooligozoospermia - it turned out that Miłosz's semen had a low sperm count. My husband was referred to an andrologist who confirmed the interpretation of the test. In addition, the sperm was found to have impaired motility.

Our attending doctor discussed the options with us. The first was insemination and the second was to try in vitro fertilisation. He immediately told us that with Milosz's results, he considered IVF to be the best route. For four months Milosz took the prescribed medication and supplements. It was a very difficult time for us. Miłosz kept saying that it was because of him that we were not having a child and that if nothing came out of IVF, he would understand that I would want to leave and find someone who could give me children. The reassurances about not doing anything like that didn't help. And that I want to be with him despite everything.

The subsequent test results were only slightly better than the previous ones. Our doctor recommended an attempt at in vitro fertilisation, bypassing insemination. We had already made the decision before leaving the surgery. The first transfer unfortunately failed. We were both devastated by this. We very much hoped that it would be successful the first time. It didn't work the second time either. Only the third transfer was successful. The day we found out I was pregnant was - apart from the birth of Iga - the happiest day of our lives. Although I endured the pregnancy poorly, it was a very special time for us. Today Iga is 4 years old, and we are thinking about having another surgery - we really want her to have a sibling.