Home and Away star Emily Symons has announced that she is expecting her first child with her partner Paul Jackson. The 45-year-old actress announced the news to the Daily Telegraph revealing that they had gone through a few rounds of IVF before their dream had finally become a reality. Emily, who plays Marilyn on the popular TV show, added that she is due to give birth in August of this year and added that she is absolutely ecstatic about the news. “I thought it would be impossible but it isn’t. I’d given up really. I thought I had tried every way that was available to us. “My advice is not to give up if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole process,” she continued adding that it hadn’t “really sunk in” yet. “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. “I spent a lot of my 30s being so anguished about not having a baby,” she had stated in previous interviews. “Then you realise life is really too short. “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. “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.”