Tanya Hennessy bought a baby Christmas stocking 9 years ago. This year, she finally gets to use it.

For many, Christmas is a time of wonder and cheer. Whether it's spent soaking up the sunshine in a Santa hat and red bikini or drinking hot chocolate by a fire, the festive season is one of joy and love.

Comedian Tanya Hennessy has always been one of those people.

"We're people who went to New York for Christmas because we just love Christmas. I decorate four Christmas trees… It's my thing," she told Mamamia's No Filter.

But for seven years, the day she loved so much carried a darker undercurrent.

Each December became a painful marker of time — another year without the baby she desperately wanted.

"This year would be our eighth Christmas without a baby," she reflected.

"Christmas has always been a really tough time of year, because I love it so much... it's like, damn it. We didn't have the baby this year. I'm ageing, and that's not a good thing in the clinics."

The Christmas stocking she bought hopefully in 2016 sat in a cupboard, slowly filling with presents for a child who hadn't yet arrived.

Seven rounds of IVF. $120,000 spent. Years of heartbreak and hope intertwined.

But this Christmas will be different.

"I'm actually due on Christmas Day, which feels like such a gift," she said.

After seven years of trying, Tanya is finally expecting — and her journey to motherhood has been anything but easy.

Listen to Tanya Hennessey's chat with Kate Langbroek on No Filter.

Motherhood has always been something Tanya longed for. Deep down, she knew it was her life's true purpose.

"I want to have the whole gamut of the human experience," she told No Filter.

"I want to know what life is like to be a parent. I want to see the world through a child's eyes… I feel like I just need to see them. I need to meet them."

Growing up, she was taught unsafe sex could end in pregnancy. She learned pregnancy was something she could choose in life.

It was only when she started trying for a baby that Tanya realised it wasn't the simple journey she'd once been sold.

In 2022, after several rounds of failed IVF, Tanya begged for an internal scan. It was then she was diagnosed with endometriosis.

Suddenly, so much of her life made sense — the periods so painful she had to stay home from school, the years of unexplained struggle.

"I thought my pain was super normal," she said.

"The endo is annoying, but I can survive it. What I couldn't survive was not being a parent, and I'm not real good at taking no as an answer."

Tanya's excited to welcome her Christmas baby. Image: Instagram/tanhennessy.

Everything shifted after the diagnosis. Surgery, IVF, a menopause drug, more IVF.

But when round after round of failed IVF, Tanya came to accept an unwanted reality: "I probably wouldn't have children."

"And I thought this was going to be the last round," she said.

"If it didn't work, I was just going to have to be satisfied with my life. I was going to find satisfaction."

Tanya and her husband, Tom, prepared themselves for the worst and let themselves grieve.

"He was always like, 'Don't worry about it. We'll have a great life anyway'," she said.

"He was like, 'You know what? It's not worth it. Your mental health isn't worth it.'

"I gained a lot of weight, and I was very uncomfortable, very unhealthy, and I was so sad. And he was like, 'Tanya, don't worry. If we can't have it, we can't have it. So let's grieve, and we'll move on.'"

Together, they decided they'd find other things to enrich their lives. But Tanya knew a shadow of grief would always lurk nearby.

Still, part of her never gave up hope.

"You can take almost anything from me, anything, but you'll never be able to take my hope or creativity, and they're the two things that have helped me survive," she said.

"I don't know how I managed to go through this, because I look back on it now, and I feel very sad for myself, like, you, poor b****, what you've been through. Hope is loud."

Part of Tanya never gave up hope. Image: Getty.

Throughout it all, Tanya kept creating — comedy, radio, skits, writing. It became her escape from the pain.

"No matter what was going on in my life, I could always go on air, and it would just disappear," she said.

"Everything else would disappear. It's the antidote to anxiety, really, because you're so present, because you have to be, you have to be right there.

"Doing film, television, books, books, tour, book tours, podcasting, it became my safe space and fun space, because it was like nothing else."

This year, it finally happened for Tanya. In July, she announced she's expecting the best Christmas present she could ever have hoped for.

Come December, Christmas won't be another reminder of what she's missing. Instead, she'll be celebrating with a newborn in her arms.

She's keeping the sex under wraps for now — something she says has a lot to do with fear.

"I'm like, What if I say it out loud, and then they don't come?"

Tanya feels so lucky to be pregnant, but the experience hasn't been what she imagined.

"I barely moved for 12 weeks and just survived off Twisties," she said.

Her long road to get here means she's content with one child.

"I cannot do this again," she said.

Tanya is growing more excited and nervous for what lies ahead. Image: Instagram/tanhennessy.

As the months go by, Tanya grows more excited and nervous for what lies ahead.

"It's so bizarre, because you see them as an embryo on a screen, and they're like a pin prick," she said.

"Like it's nothing. You can't even see it. And then all of a sudden, it's got a heartbeat, but it's just a jelly bean, and then it looks like a lizard for a couple of months, and then it sort of looks like a person."

The response to sharing her story has left Tanya overwhelmed with gratitude.

"It's so lovely how much love I've been shown and how much support," she said.

"I feel so grateful for people giving a s*** about this story."

It's a story she never expected would go on this long.

"I thought I'd have a five-year-old by now," she said.

"Life is hard and stressful, so the fact that someone could remember my name and remember that I went through a struggle, then can remember that I got it to work, is kind of amazing in this day and age."

Tanya wouldn't wish her experience on anyone, but it has solidified something she's always believed: she's resilient as hell.

"I've been in parenting boot camp since we decided we want to have kids, which was seven years ago," she said.

"I feel like if there's one thing I've learned, it's patience."

Being pregnant has also taught Tanya better boundaries.

"The second I got pregnant, I feel like my boundaries and people pleasing shifted hard," she said.

"I no longer can just listen to people say things that aren't true and just nod along because it's easier. I was like, No, I've got to stand up for myself, because I want my kid to stand up for themselves and not just keep bowing over to people and people pleasing."

Over the years, the support from friends, family, strangers and even pharmacy workers has reinforced one crucial truth: the importance of community.

"Even before you become a parent, you need a community," Tanya said.

"It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a village to raise a mother.

"I feel like I've grown up a lot. Sometimes I didn't want to grow up, but I did. I wish I didn't have to go through this experience. I wish most people didn't have to go through this experience. But I'm here now, and I feel for people still in the throes of it. I really do."

Now, as she counts down the weeks until she meets her Christmas baby, Tanya has one simple message for them: "I've waited my whole life to meet you, because I have, I really have."

Feature image: Getty.