Becoming a mother is extra sweet for Eilidh Di Natale.
At one time, doctors had told the Melbourne woman she would probably struggle to become one.
"For my husband and I, it's just amazing that we're actually now parents. We look at each other still every day and think, 'Where did this baby come from?' We're just so happy."
Four years ago, the kindergarten teacher was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS.
"The diagnosis for me came as quite a shock. The main thing was, 'Was I going to be able to have children?' And it was something that sort of made me quite anxious for a couple of years."
It is an anxiety often experienced by women with PCOS.
And it is one the head of the National Health and Medical Research Council's Centre for Research Excellence in PCOS, Professor Helena Teede, says she wants to dispel.
"Some of the most disappointing stories are women who are told that they won't be able to have children. And that's just not true. We know that women with PCOS in Australia, with access to good treatment, can have the same family size as women who don't have the condition."
The disorder affects around 13 per cent of non-Indigenous women of reproductive age but one in three Indigenous women.
Common features include excess facial and body hair, irregular menstrual cycles, weight gain, acne and depression.
But those traits are not always present, and Professor Teede says PCOS is often misdiagnosed.
"It's a complex condition. Doctors are often not necessarily well-informed or confident in making the diagnosis and treatments. And women, therefore, have a very difficult time being diagnosed."
Lorna Berry of Melbourne says it took 14 years for her to be diagnosed.
"(I) basically had to beg to be diagnosed. The impact was tremendous, because it was like this missing piece of a puzzle has been slotted in and I could understand why, for many years, from being an early teen, I'd been overweight, I'd struggled with weight, I'd had an irregular cycle, I'd had trouble getting pregnant in my 20s -- when I shouldn't have at all."
Health analysts from 71 countries, led by those at Melbourne's Monash University, have developed new resources to better inform women and doctors about the syndrome.
Professor Teede says a mobile app in multiple languages, called AskPCOS, will be available on numerous platforms at a small cost to cover its development.
"It's completely evidence-based. It gets over the misinformation. It talks about the features, how you might seek a diagnosis, what the treatments are. And it gives them a question prompt list to take to their healthcare professionals and to guide their interaction with the health professionals so that they have a better satisfaction from care."
The key message is symptoms can be treated and a diagnosis does not mean infertility.
Indian origin obstetrician and Gynaecologist in Melbourne Dr Boski Shah told SBS Hindi that new guidelines will help a great deal to women from all communities.
