Home and Away actress Emily Symons is expecting her first baby at the age of 45.
The former Emmerdale star revealed she's 15 weeks pregnant after IVF treatment and will give birth in August - around her 46th birthday.
Emily and her partner Paul Jackson – who already has three children – had almost given up hope of having a child together.
The soap star had tried for a baby in 2005 with her then husband Lorenzo Smith, but the heartbreak of two failed IVF attempts led to the couple splitting up.
But her latest attempt at IVF has led to pregnancy joy.
Emily told Australia's Daily Telegraph: "I very much thought it couldn't happen and I was too old.
"I thought it would be impossible but it isn't.
"I'd given up really, I thought I had tried every avenue that was available to us."
She added: "My advice is to not give up if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole process."
She said she'd been keeping her news secret until now, adding: "Obviously at my age, you have to wait a long time before you can tell anyone, so I've known for a while, but I haven't been able to share."
In 2012 Emily spoke about the heartbreaking realisation she might never be a mother.
She said: "I spent a lot of my 30s being so anguished about not having a baby.
"Then you realise life is really too short.
"But the flip side is IVF can take over your life. It gets to the point where you're so desperate to have a baby, everything else falls by the wayside."
Her partner Paul has three children - Tommy, Georgia and Grace - from a previous relationship and the couple went through more than one IVF cycle before Emily became pregnant.
Emily said: "It is very difficult when you are doing it because obviously there are only two results and only one of them is good.
"It is a waiting game and it is very gruelling on your emotions and your relationship. I am so inspired by what women go through to achieve their dream, to become pregnant and have a family, you've got to be prepared to do that stuff to get the baby."
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