Fred and Solveig already had many good memories together, as well as a few surprises along the way, when they decided to have a baby. They met on a beach, made sacrifices to meet again after the summer holidays, went to hundreds of concerts, lived in a cosy apartment, went on long bikerides... they had lived so many adventures, which, one day, they could tell their children…

However, all the goodwill in the world isn’t enough to ensure that having a child is always a good and positive experience. Fred and Solveig quickly realized that they would need to rely on medical help to conceive a child.

They consequently spent a significant amount of their time in waiting rooms and medical labs ; they discovered the meanings of medical treatments represented by long and complicated words, that infertility problems require deep analysis and a lot of patience for results. They needed to be open-minded and to share intimate information with doctors ; Fred and Solveig had to be strong and to avoid feeling sorry for themselves, to believe in medical solutions, to try. The doctors asked Fred and Solveig to be brave, to have sex everyday instead of making love for pleasure ; doctors asked them to keep in mind that science is an uncertain discipline, and should the medical cocktail work, they could end up with more than one baby.

It was a long and emotional rollercoaster. It was almost as though sentences had no comas, no full stops ; it was a period in their lives which, they felt, would never end. Fred and Solveig waited two years and a half before Solveig saw a bump appear on her belly. Fred accompanied her for her first scan. They were brave, they made it, and Solveig was finally pregnant. In fact, science had almost been too good to them: there were two embryos. Fred and Solveig felt scared but one evening, after a lovely diner under the dim lights of a small café, they felt excitement about going to hospital to welcome two daughters into their lives: Billie and June.

They like to call their names in this order, Billie and June, it sounds better than June and Billie.

When Solveig cycles with Fred, when she struggles to climb a steep slope, Fred stops pedaling and asks Solveig to shout out to relieve her pain. They then continue their ride together ; it may take time to get to the top, but they know they’ll get there.