Our Happiness

That was when my husband had some tests done. He had a semen analysis, and we couldn’t believe the result, so he repeated it. Unfortunately, the result was the same. There were only two motile sperm cells in his semen. Yes, just two.

It was a devastating blow. What now? Where should we go? Did we have any chance at all? Was there any point in continuing to try? It seemed practically impossible that we would ever succeed. What were we supposed to do?

That was how we ended up at a fertility clinic in Gdańsk. We both underwent extensive testing, including genetic tests and tests of my fallopian tubes. The conclusion was: I was healthy, while my husband was diagnosed with azoospermia.

My first reaction was to cry and feel angry with the whole world. The first thing we were offered was a certificate confirming our infertility, which was supposed to make it easier for us to apply for adoption. Maybe it was selfish of me, but I wanted to have a child of my own and give birth to that child myself.

We wanted it so badly…

The doctor suggested IUI with donor sperm. We considered every aspect of this option and decided to try. We had three attempts. All unsuccessful, all difficult. Before each procedure, I had to have an extremely full bladder, and once I was in the examination chair, all I could think about was when I would finally be able to get up and go to the bathroom.

Emotionally, things were becoming increasingly difficult. I would cry on the way to every appointment and cry even more on the way home. The doctors’ attitude didn’t help – everything felt impersonal and mechanical, with no empathy or understanding. We spent more than two years receiving treatment there and spent a great deal of money. I still wasn’t pregnant, and my hope of ever becoming a mother had almost disappeared.

Eventually, we left that clinic and decided to take a break from everything. But even though we were supposed to give ourselves some time to recover, I kept searching for information about infertility, IVF and fertility clinics… good fertility clinics.

That was how I eventually found the website of Klinika Bocian in Białystok.

It was early March 2013. I went through the entire website, read about all the doctors and looked through patients’ stories and reviews. I chose Dr Mrugacz and booked an appointment. However, the Doctor called me back and explained that his schedule was extremely busy that day, but he could arrange an appointment for me with Dr Pietrzycki instead.

There was silence on my end of the phone… But I wanted Dr Mrugacz.

“Okay,” I finally said. “Dr Pietrzycki it is.”

We travelled there with mixed feelings and practically no hope left, although I desperately wanted to believe that someone might finally be able to help us. Białystok was more than 200 km away, and throughout the entire journey I kept wondering what we would find out this time.

We arrived and checked in at reception. Then we waited.

It felt nice there – friendly, almost like a family atmosphere, with everyone smiling. I looked at my husband as if to say, “Where on earth have we ended up?” We had never experienced anything like this at our previous clinic, and almost everything surprised us.

There was a slight delay, and eventually our doctor, Bartosz Pietrzycki, arrived. I nudged my husband: “That’s him.”

He invited us into his office, and we told him our entire story. He reviewed all our test results, examined me, ordered several additional tests and asked us to wait for the results before coming back.

It turned out that I had mild hypothyroidism, something no one had noticed before – simply because no one had previously tested my TSH. Unfortunately, my husband’s semen analysis results were confirmed.

We looked at the Doctor hopefully, and he calmly explained that this was not the end of the world. There were methods available that could make pregnancy possible even with results like ours.

We started thinking about donor sperm again, but Dr Pietrzycki convinced us that we could have our own biological child through IVF using ICSI and TESA.

I can’t describe how I felt at that moment. It was as though I had suddenly grown wings. Finally, someone had given us something concrete – hope and a real chance.

I was prescribed medication to regulate my thyroid levels and told to return in three months. In the meantime, I heard on television about a publicly funded IVF programme.

We returned for a check-up in June, and then again in early July, when we began ovarian stimulation. From that point on, I travelled to every appointment with a smile on my face and the belief that everything would be all right.

The stimulation went smoothly, as did my egg retrieval and my husband’s biopsy, although I was terrified that they might not find any sperm.

But they did!

Then came the wait for the call from Klinika Bocian with the date of our embryo transfer. Would it work?

Finally, they called. We were going.

After the transfer, I lay on the bed and prayed that our tiny little embryo would stay with us. Those two weeks before I could take a pregnancy test seemed endless.

Finally, the morning came. I got up, went to the bathroom and took the test… but I was afraid to look at it.

Eventually, I glanced down and saw… two lines!

I couldn’t believe it. I actually read the instructions on the box again to make sure that two lines really meant I was pregnant.

Yes. The test said I was pregnant.

But I still went for a blood test. I waited anxiously, unable to concentrate on anything. When I collected the result, I asked the woman at the desk to interpret it for me.

Yes, yes, yes – I was pregnant. It had worked.

Thank God!

I called Dr Pietrzycki to share the wonderful news. He wished us all the best, and we arranged another appointment. He confirmed the pregnancy, and we heard our baby’s tiny heartbeat.

We were going to have a baby.

Finally.

There was so much joy…

On April 11, 2014, I gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Our miracle. Our happiness. Our child.

And what is life like today? Today, our little treasure is three years old. She fills our entire lives and means everything to us.

If it hadn’t been for Klinika Bocian, Dr Bartosz Pietrzycki and the entire team of specialists, I don’t know what our lives would look like today.

That is why we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone, and especially to Dr Bartosz Pietrzycki, for his care, understanding, treatment and help.

We will definitely be back.