Home and Away's Sophie Dillman discusses possibility of children with co-star Patrick O'Connor

 "It's definitely something we want to look into one day."

Home and Away couple Sophie Dillman and Patrick O'Connor have opened up about having kids together one day.

Known for portraying lovers Ziggy Astoni and Dean Thompson in the Aussie soap, it seems as though the current pregnancy plotline has bled over into their real lives, as Dillman has revealed she's using her storyline to practice for the real thing.

"I feel quite blessed being able to practise all of the pregnancy things without the actual pregnancy," she told 7News.

You know, Ziggy got everything — she got nausea, fatigue, mood swings, pain, Braxton Hicks, all that sort of stuff. Going through all of that, especially with your real-life partner, actually brings up a lot of conversation that I don't think a lot of people would have unless they are literally carrying a fake pregnancy belly around."

The actress, who shares a cavoodle named Winnie with O'Connor, went on to admit it's "quite odd" that her Home and Away pregnancy also involves her other half.

"It is in a way. But at the same time, Ziggy and Dean are very different from Sophie and Paddy, so sort of going home and taking the bump off and all that sort of stuff means that it is very separated," Dillman added.

"It's actually been really fun."

And it's apparantly been so much fun that the real-life lovebirds "talk about" starting a family of their own "and continue to talk about it all the time", she revealed.

Dillman shared: "It's not what we want to do right now, but it's definitely something we want to look into one day. So it's been fun doing all the hypotheticals."

Home and Away airs weekdays at 1.45pm on Channel 5 and 6pm on 5STAR. First-look screenings air at 6.30pm on 5STAR and the show also streams on My5.

In Australia, the show airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7pm on Channel 7 and streams on 7plus.