Tanya Hennessy has admitted she struggled with guilt after finally falling pregnant, fearing her long-time followers battling infertility would be taken aback by her happy news.
After seven years, several rounds of IVF and spending more than $120,000 trying to become a mother, the 40-year-old thought announcing her long-awaited pregnancy would be one of the happiest moments of her life. Instead, she said she was overcome with guilt.
The Sydney-based presenter told Nine she agonised over how to tell the online community that had followed her fertility battle, asking herself how she was going to tell them.
The announcement eventually came in the form of eight words posted for her almost 300,000 Instagram followers: "We finally have a baby on the way."
Years of treatment behind the scenes
Hennessy has long been open about her fertility struggles, documenting years of IVF treatments and the emotional toll of living with endometriosis, a chronic condition that can affect fertility. She said she had shared a lot but nothing compared to what she actually went through.
She described becoming pregnant as the culmination of years of relentless determination, listing the needles, injections, advocacy and acupuncture involved. She said she also tried kinesiology, vision boards for babies and manifesting, thanked the universe and wrapped a baby blanket under the Christmas tree.
Seeing two lines appear on a pregnancy test was the dream she said she worked so hard for.
Understanding others' pain
While she was, in her words, obviously stoked that her seventh round of IVF finally worked, Hennessy said she understood how painful pregnancy announcements can be for others battling infertility. She explained that being stuck in the fertility trenches means watching everyone else post their pregnancy bump while wanting the same thing.
She said her heart hurts every time she sees someone post about struggling, because she knows that pain, and she thought of how many baby showers and christenings she missed and cried over.
Even after welcoming her daughter last year, Hennessy said the emotional scars remain, describing it as a trauma and saying the wound is still there even though her daughter is here.
Welcoming Scottie Jack Poole
Hennessy welcomed her first child with husband Thomas Poole in December. She shared two images on Instagram on Christmas evening of the couple cradling their daughter, writing that their beautiful baby girl was finally here and revealing they had named her Scotland Poole.
She wrote that she was in heaven, her heart was exploding, and she had never been so blissfully happy in her life.
In 2022, Hennessy had told her social media followers that getting pregnant was a full-time job and that she was at her wits' end.
