FOR seven long years, Luke and Shannon Simmons longed to see two little pink lines appear on a stick.
They kept a calendar in their bathroom to track fertility cycles, and when things got tough and they endured another heartbreaking disappointment, they lived by the mantra: "Just keep swimming". But after five unsuccessful IVF cycles, and a multitude of fertility challenges, the Rutherford couple say they were rescued by "superwoman" - their egg donor. A good friend who had become family when she gave them the greatest gift of all - the chance to become parents to Pippa.
"Luke and I met in 2010, and as soon as we met we knew we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives," Mrs Simmons said.
"I always said I wanted to be married by 30, but I went off the pill before we got married to see what would happen.
"But after six months, I just felt that something wasn't right. Normally GPs don't do anything until you've been trying for a year-and-a-half.
"But I started to get some tests done."
Despite being told by doctors as a teenager that her "excruciating" period pain was "just what being a lady is like", Mrs Simmons learned she had stage three endometriosis. Later, they would discover she also had a low egg count, a "blocked left tube", and an autoimmune disease.
At the age of 30, Mrs Simmons had her first surgery.
"The doctor burned everything off, did a laparoscopy, a curette, a flushing of the tubes - to get my body ready for pregnancy."
For the next six months, the couple tried to fall pregnant naturally with no luck. They began the first of five rounds of IVF.
"Thank God for my parents. We moved from Nelson Bay to Windella to live with them, and they helped us to save money along the way to pay for it all," she said.
"It was all pretty intense. There were some days we were completely devastated.
"There were a lot of nights where I would go for a shower and just cry for five minutes."
After another two surgeries, and a whole lot of heartache, they needed a break.
"We decided to mix things up and create some happiness in other areas of our lives," she said. "We built our home, bought a new car and our cat. We needed something different to doctors appointments, needles, blood tests, and hospitals. We needed some happiness."
But when they returned to their fertility specialist to try again, they found they had "hit a dead end".
"There was now an extremely low chance of me being able to conceive a baby through IVF, as I had hit early menopause," she said.
"I had always wanted to be a mother, and we couldn't imagine our lives without being parents one day.
"We were gutted."
Mrs Simmons' neighbour, who had become a close friend, offered to help. She already had children.
"She approached us about it, so I got some information together," Mrs Simmons said. "Her and her husband read through it all, and she said - 'I'd love to do it'."
They all had to go to counselling sessions prior to beginning the process.
"I got my head around the fact that we wanted to be parents, and we couldn't. I accepted that I needed a bit of help to do that, and that my friend was there to be our little superwoman," she said. Both women had to take a lot of medication to prepare. She kept the evidence to show what went into making their "little ray of sunshine".
"I had to go on something that would keep my body thinking it was ready to carry a child," she said.
"I was taking that prior to the egg transfer and egg collection to get my body ready. There was a lot of medication - for both me, and the donor.
"She had to go through all the blood tests, and then she had to have a needle every night prior to the egg harvest.
"They collected 23 eggs off her. But only one survived at the end. I remember the phone call... They said, 'Unfortunately overnight we've lost five. One is ready to go, and we have none to freeze'.
"My gut just dropped.
"We had one shot at it."
Mrs Simmons said after the donor egg was transferred, she had an anxious two week wait to find out if she was pregnant. She was.
And on November 28, 2018, little Pippa was born.
"She has been gorgeous, and very spoilt. We are very blessed to have her here," Mrs Simmons said.
Since Pippa's arrival - her family, and the donor's family, had become even closer.
"We have a pretty special bond, and now it is just a little bit more special," she said.
As well as the donor, the couple wanted to thank Pippa's grandparents - Noel and Helen Hughes, Ann Simmons, and Ed and Monica Hudson - for their support.
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