Mel B announces pregnancy

Mel B has announced that she is expecting her first child with husband Stephen Belafonte.

The Spice Girl already has two daughters, Phoenix, 12, and Angel Irish, 3, while Belafonte has one child from a previous marriage.

"It was planned, obviously," she told Hello magazine. "When you're 35 years old, you have to do your check-ups beforehand. So I'd done all the precautions around Christmas time, then we started trying."

She continued: "We both really wanted things to happen. The power of wanting a baby, I think, can sometimes just work for your advantage. I didn't think that I would get pregnant that quickly. Usually it takes at least a month or two.

"We're really excited. We wouldn't have planned and waited for four years to have a baby if we weren't really excited about it and ready for it - even though you can never really be truly ready."

However, the singer - real name Melanie Brown - admitted that she does not know if she will find out the sex of the baby.

"I haven't fully decided if I want to know or not," she said. "I'm over the first trimester, so I'm past the shady three months and on to safe territory. The first three months, I was pretty sick and tired, to be honest, which I've never been before."

Mel B is the third Spice Girl to confirm pregnancy this year, with both Victoria Beckham and Emma Bunton expecting new arrivals.

> Bunton: 'Babies help Spice Girls bond'