Thirteen years of heartache and struggle and a total of 12 operations to fix fertility problems.

Together since high school, Dubbo parents Sal and Murray Yeomans first began trying to conceive naturally in 1998.

But Sal had endometriosis, a condition where the tissue that normally lines the uterus and leaves the body via menstruation, grows outside the womb, causing pain, inflammation and scar tissue.

Endometriosis can result in infertility but, paradoxically, one way of reducing the risk of it reoccurring is to bear a child.

To top it off, Sal's body also struggled to produce the reproductive hormone oestrogen, which is vital for the growth and development of a foetus to full term.

After being diagnosed with endometriosis in 2000, Sal underwent four operations to remove misplaced endometrial cells, including in her back, and one which rested on the main blood supply to her kidney.

She also had seven operations to remove ovarian tumours and in 2002 was diagnosed with Asherman's syndrome, or scarring of the uterine cavity.

"I struggled with a lot of hurt, which turned into anger," Sal said.

"I struggled not being able to give my husband a child."

For Sal, the hardest point in the journey came in the mid-2000s, when she had to undergo a laparoscopy for her endometriosis at Dubbo Private Hospital.

Following another unsuccessful attempt to rid her of her endometriosis, and increase her chances of becoming pregnant, Sal woke to the sound of babies crying, in the maternity ward of Dubbo hospital.

"That was one of my lowest moments," she said.

In 2009, after 11 years of trying to fall pregnant and "many miscarriages", the couple turned to IVF as a "last resort".

The form of IVF they used "was probably the most extreme", with Sal undergoing egg retrieval, embryos being created outside of her body and then reinserted into her womb where, after hormone injections, it was hoped the embryo would grow.

Amazingly, Sal chose to remain fully conscious during the painful egg retrieval procedure, during which a fine needle, guided with the help of an ultrasound, is used to extract the eggs from follicles within the ovary.

She wished for a sedative within moments, she said, but in hindsight doesn't regret the decision in the slightest.

"We've been there for every single process," she said.

And husband Murray said that to literally see the embryo, which would eventually become his daughter, was "amazing".

Following two egg retrievals and six or seven full IVF cycles, Sal and Murray began their final cycle on October 4, 2010.

It was a Monday and it was their wedding anniversary. Sal said this time she had a feeling it would be different.

"I knew with all my heart that it was going to work," she said.

And she was right. But when the confirmation came, the news that should fill a couple with joy only brought fear and guilt.

"When we got told it was very overwhelming," Sal said.

"The first feeling was fear. You don't allow yourself to get excited because you've got such a long way to go."

And in a way, she was right. At 20 weeks Sal felt something wasn't quite right.

A scan showed that Sal's cervix was weakening, struggling to hold her baby in, and she was two-and-a-half centimetres dilated.

"Thinking we were going to lose her - it was horrific," Sal said.

The doctors at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital operated on Sal to prevent a miscarriage, and she had to visit a foetal specialist every week for 11 weeks for scans and more hormone treatments.

Finally, on Wednesday, June 15, 2011, baby London was born at 35 weeks. She had to be delivered by caesarean section, as Sal's cervix had been too weak for a natural delivery.

"To be in that birthing room and see her come out, that was amazing," Murray said.

"I don't want to call her a miracle, but she's the closest thing I've seen," Sal said.

Three and a half years on and London Yeomans is a bubbly and confident little girl with the world at her feet.

Her mum and dad said they want her to know what they went through to bring her into the world.

"I don't say that our story is more special than anyone else's."

"It's just ours."

And with an estimated one in five Australian couples experiencing fertility problems, there are many more out there with stories like the Yeomans'.

Sal and Murray said that's why it's really important that people talk more openly about fertility problems, especially for women and couples who may be struggling.

"I want to tell them it's okay to feel ripped off," she said.

"It's OK to feel hurt. It's okay to feel you've let yourself down."

Murray said "80 per cent of the time people say the wrong thing", but it's "better than silence".

"It's not about saying the right thing," he said.

"It's just about being there."