Home & Away star Ada is expecting her first baby

Home and Away star Ada Nicodemou has announced that she is expecting her first child.

The actress, who plays chef Leah Patterson-Baker in the Channel 5 soap, revealed she is pregnant following a course of IVF treatment.

"We'd been trying for a year all up, I guess, and I was so focused on getting pregnant I couldn't think of anyone else - it's all I've been talking about for years," she told Australia's New Idea magazine.

"In the end, IVF was seriously the best thing we did. It doesn't usually happen on the first go and we didn't want to get our hopes up too much, but we were very lucky. I'm really looking forward to it - I just wish we didn't have to wait another 27 weeks!" she added.

Ada said she is looking forward to a happy future with husband Chrys Xipolitas. They married in 2007, but had a brief split in 2010, only to reunite a year later.

"You know, everything happens for a reason. This is the right time for us to have a baby. We've been through some difficulties and come out all the stronger," said the 34-year-old.