The couple chose Michael Douglas' website as the place to tell the world at large that they are expecting their second child in the spring of 2003.

The Douglases have one son of their own, Dylan Michael Douglas, aged two, who was born at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Beverly Hills on 9 August 2000.

Michael and Catherine are extremely pleased to announce that they're expecting their second child in the Spring of 2003

Official website

Michael Douglas also has a son from his previous marriage.

Earlier this year, Catherine Zeta Jones had spoken of her wish to have another child before Dylan got much older, and said she hoped to have a baby by next year.

The announcement confirms that the 33-year-old actress's plans for her family are on schedule

The website said: "Michael and Catherine are extremely pleased to announce that they're expecting their second child in the Spring of 2003.

"Apparently, with the upcoming release of Michael's next film, "A Few Good Years", which stars three generations of Douglases, Michael and Catherine felt there was room for some more!"

The couple had hoped to have another baby

This may not be last time a posting like this is seen, as Zeta Jones has made no secret of her desire to have a big family.

She told Elle magazine in May: "I'm one of three, so I have it in my head that three is the perfect number."

"But Michael is one of two, so he wants one more. But I'd like to have three, or as many as I can!"

Zeta Jones has made a big impact on Hollywood in recent years with leading roles in America's Sweethearts and Traffic, which she filmed while pregnant the first time.

She will next be seen in a star-packed screen version of the stage musical Chicago, alongside Bridget Jones' Diary's Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere.

Welsh connections

With the name of Wales's most famous poet Dylan Thomas the couple's choice for their first baby, Jack Brown bookmakers are already offering odds of 11/1 on the name Caitlin (after Thomas's wife) if the new arrival is a girl.

If it is a boy, however, the betting is on Zorro (after Zeta Jones' swashbuckling performance in The Mask of Zorro alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas).

The stars have been keen to make sure Dylan has plenty of Welsh influences around him.

Zeta Jones hired a Welsh nanny to look after her son, and received a gift of a Welsh Mountain pony for him after taking part in a charity walk in Cardiff earlier this year.

The Douglases are also building a luxury home in the seaside resort of Mumbles near Swansea for her parents which is big enough to house them when they visit Wales.

Their present home is too small to house the Hollywood stars when they visit, and they have had to stay in hotels on previous trips.