It was the worst-kept secret in Hollywood — even David and Victoria Beckham themselves couldn’t keep from hinting that they’re planning to add a fifth child to their famous brood. But this time we won’t be on Posh bump watch. Friends have confirmed in a world-exclusive to Woman’s Day that the couple are deep in the planning stages of adopting! “They were seriously thinking about it in the months before Victoria fell pregnant with Harper,” says our insider, who adds that Posh and Becks were looking at opportunities to adopt a little girl from Africa.

David couldn’t be happier with the idea of baby number five. “If we’re lucky enough, we hope to have one more,” he revealed in a TV interview earlier this year. And our insider says he’s been keen on adoption for years — “but Victoria always resisted because she quite enjoys being pregnant and thought she’d have no trouble having more kids.” But now it’s thought that Victoria, 38 – who last month teasingly told US magazine Glamour she’d “never say never” to another baby – has decided to give up her long-held dream to give birth to the fifth and final member of her brood.

Sources say she could have been warned by doctors not to attempt a fifth caesarean section, with Brooklyn, 13, Romeo, 9, Cruz, 7, and Harper, 13 months, all believed to have been born under the surgical procedure. “Most women can safely have up to three C-sections. Each repeat C-section is generally more complicated than the last,” explains obstetrician/gynaecologist Dr Roger W. Harms, who says the surgery weakens the uterine wall, which could affect future pregnancies.

“The surgical risks must be weighed carefully against the desire for subsequent pregnancies,” Dr Harms says. “Posh felt a family of seven would be perfect and liked the idea of calling it quits by the time she reached 40,” explains the close Beckham insider. “But now David worries that a fifth pregnancy could damage her health, and she too is not sure she wants to put her body through that again — especially because she works so hard to lose weight, and has a busy career.”

Read more about David and Victoria's adoption plans in this week's Woman’s Day on sale Monday August 27, 2012.