How a sick Phoebe Burgess managed to hide her second pregnancy at Fashion Week.

Yesterday it was revealed Phoebe Burgess is pregnant with her second child.

The 29-year-old is already mum to a 17-month-old daughter, Poppy, with her husband, football star Sam Burgess, 29, and while she says they’re overwhelmingly “excited” to be growing their family, she admits they’re probably a little bit “mad” too, given the close age gap between kids.

“It is awesome. We’re honestly over the moon,” she tells Mamamia.

But while the secret is out now, Phoebe admits it was tricky keeping her pregnancy under wraps for as long as she did – especially in the early stages, because she was so sick.

“I get my sickness in the evening, but to be honest, I was sick all day with this one,” she says.

Still, Phoebe somehow managed to push through it, putting in several glamorous appearances at Fashion Week in Sydney last month.

And while the rest of us where none the wiser to the fact she was with child, Phoebe says she actually felt kind of awful.

“I was pretty sick at the time,” she admits.

“I told a couple of the girls that I was attending a couple of the shows with, and I just had a bag of Allen’s lollies in my Balenciaga, and I was eating those during the Bianca Spender show. I had to hide it away. But the girls were just great with helping me. I think it’s important to tell the people who you’re close to, especially in work situations.”

Tonight for @alicemccallptyltd in @zimmermann ???? #MBFWA

A post shared by PHOEBE BURGESS (@mrsphoebeburgess) on May 14, 2018 at 3:07am PDT

She says she also strategically planned her outfits so people wouldn’t detect her burgeoning baby bump.

“I think I got pretty good at blazers and shirts,” she adds.

“I was wearing a lot of blazers, and I had a lot of Spanx on under a lot of things. I wore this big skirt that was quite voluminous, so I probably looked pregnant anyway, but I think fashion is pretty cool. You can get away with a few trends without looking too pregnant, and I was very early days then, so I wasn’t really showing… It was more so the sickness.”

Although it is her second pregnancy, Phoebe says this experience has been totally different to the one she had when she was pregnant with Poppy, and admits it’s been a lot harder this time around.

“Pregnancy – I thought I sort of had it nailed after the first one, but they’re all different,” she admits.

“It is a tough time on your body and emotionally. You’re moody, I was hungry for everything, and then I was sick. I couldn’t look at my phone and I didn’t want to watch MasterChef, because it made me sick. I was going to bed at the same time as Poppy. It was a ride.”

She thinks being mum to an active toddler has also made things that much harder this time around.

“This one’s been pretty challenging… [With] my first pregnancy, I was able to take rest,” she says.

“If I had a bad day, I could take a bath and find lots of lovely ways to get over that sickness. But I’m running after a 17-month-old full-time, so you don’t really get to sleep unless they’re sleeping. You can’t shower and go out to get whatever food you feel like or have a lie down or read a book whenever you want. You’re pretty much at your bubby’s beck and call.”

Just don’t ask me to co-ordinate. #Mbfwa ???? @indiahartforddavis

A post shared by PHOEBE BURGESS (@mrsphoebeburgess) on May 14, 2018 at 1:45pm PDT

But after a difficult few months, Phoebe says she’s finally starting to feel like her old self again.

“I was just tired to my bones, but my energy is slowing coming back, which is awesome,” she adds.

Now, the journalist is trying to raise awareness of Vitamin D deficiencies, particularly in pregnant women.

Although it didn’t affect her personally, research by Ostelin shows that 70 percent of all pregnant women in Australia are Vitamin D deficient.

“Vitamin D deficiency is something that we associate with ageing, so that statistic really shocked me. It really threw me, so it was something that I thought was a conversation that all mums should start having,” she says.

“It is so important, because when you’re pregnant and you have a Vitamin D deficiency, your baby will also have a Vitamin D deficiency. Your DNA is obviously linked, and that connection is what jolted me into taking a supplement… Bone health starts when you’re young.”

She’s also enjoying finally sharing her pregnancy news with the world.

“We were really enjoying having these 14 weeks to ourselves and to our family and friends, and it’s a fun thing to share with everyone now,” she says.

Although the couple wasn’t “actively trying” for a baby, Phoebe says it was definitely on their radar.

“We were in the game. We were excited about having another baby. But I think after a while, you just get back to normal life. It’s always a surprise when you find out you’re pregnant,” she adds.

And no one was more surprised than Sam, apparently.

“He was so excited!” she says.

“He came back from the shops, and he said he’d bought me a present. I think it was a croissant… I said, ‘I got you a present, too,’ and we counted to three, and I gave him the pregnancy test. He hit the roof! He said, ‘No way!’ about 10 times.

“It’s nice to create another playmate for Poppy – and for my husband, my third child.”