The couple met 10 years ago in a bar in Tauranga where Tony worked. She was from Auckland, he was from Christchurch. Both had recently left long-term relationships, and they had an instant chemistry.
They moved in together about a month later with Tony's two children, James, now 23, and Louise, 21, and shifted to the Gold Coast in 2010. Shelley had four children from her previous relationship - Dominic, now 20, Lorenzo, 18, and identical twin girls Mahteya and Phoenix, aged 12.
Both were keen to have a child together, but Shelley had medical complications with her twins' pregnancy which meant any future babies were at risk of Rhesus disease, a rare condition where antibodies in a pregnant woman's blood can destroy her baby's blood cells. About 15 per cent of women have Rhesus Negative blood type (RhD negative) and not all pregnancies are affected.
"I told Tony there was a 50-50 chance now of any baby having Rhesus disease and this meant the baby may need blood transfusions in the womb," she says. "He gave a typical guy response and said, 'Okay'."
Shelley became pregnant in August 2006 and learned that her unborn baby did have Rhesus disease. She gave birth to a daughter, Bella Powell, by caesarean section at 35 weeks on March 29, 2007.
"It was a lot of relief to see Bella here and that she was okay," says Shelley. "She was given special care, including another blood transfusion straight away - she'd already had three in the womb. To treat her jaundice, her tiny eyes were covered with little, black goggles under the soft, blue colour of the UV lamp. She sometimes had a feeding tube, but otherwise looked healthy. Even over a month prem, she weighed six pounds, six ounces."
Adds Tony: "Bella looked pretty, cute and cool. I was really happy picking her up when I could. We brought her home when she was around two weeks old."
When Bella was two months old, Mr Hodder arranged a Saturday night birthday party to celebrate Mrs Hodder's 28th birthday, followed by dancing at a nightclub in Tauranga.
The next day, May 27, 2007, Bella unexpectedly died from haemolytic anaemia - a complication related to Rhesus disease.
Her parents were devastated.
"I felt like I died as well," says Tony. "The person I used to be - I just wasn't that person again from that moment."
Feeling grief-stricken, Tony could no longer face working. To add to the couple's sadness, his mother, Fane, 66, from Tonga, died seven months later.
"We became homeless, unable to pay rent. During the next two years or so, we just drifted like hobos, staying where we could, mostly with friends and family, in Christchurch, Auckland, Townsville in North Queensland and back to Christchurch."
They also tried for another baby.
"It was not about replacing Bella," Tony said. "She was still Shelley's and my only child. But we'd had a taste of that now, only to have that adventure we were on with Bella end."
The couple were excited when Shelley got pregnant, with medical assistance to reverse the tubular ligation surgery carried out when she had a caesarean section with Bella.
In November 2008, the couple quietly got married in a registry office in Tauranga, with Tony's two children as their only witnesses - only for their hopes to be dashed again.
"It never even crossed my mind I might have a miscarriage," says Shelley.
She had about half a dozen soul-destroying miscarriages in the months that followed. The couple decided to leave New Zealand and settle in Nerang, on the Gold Coast, where Shelley had ectopic pregnancies (where the fertilised egg implants outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tubes, which carry the egg from the ovaries to the uterus). As a result, she had no fallopian tubes afterwards.
Disillusioned, the couple took a break for a few years. Last year, they turned to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and were successful on the fourth attempt. The pregnancy was very closely monitored, and even when they were told their unborn baby boy was not affected by Rhesus disease, Shelly could not relax.
"Every day, I was pushing on my belly checking he was still kicking. I was very anxious throughout the whole pregnancy. Tony had a good feeling about it - putting his scan on Facebook - but I had doubts. I didn't want to get my hopes up too much. I had morning sickness, heartburn, haemorrhoids, everything ached in body."
Justyce was born by caesarean section on July 2 this year, three weeks early and a healthy six pounds, nine ounces.
Three days later, the couple brought their long-awaited baby home. "We were paranoid about everything, and kept taking him to the doctors - but we've got past that," says Shelley. "He's cheeky and very special because I wasn't sure we were ever going to get him. I still can't believe it."
Tony, who now works fulltime as a youth worker for children in residential care, calls it surreal. "I cherish every moment. We're planning a lovely family Christmas with all the children here - and Justyce."
Next March, to mark Bella's 9th birthday, Shelley's stepfather Brian plans to carve a butterfly-shaped headstone for Bella.
"We didn't feel we could do that until we had a sibling to take to say our goodbyes to Bella and finally put things to rest," explains Tony. "My next dream is to be able to afford a proper wedding day for me and Shelley. Justyce is going to be a very young uncle next year too! I'm becoming a granddad for the first time - as my son James, 23, and his partner Tia, 25 - are having a baby.
"That'll be interesting," he adds with a smile. "Everything has gone full circle."
