Jessica Capshaw: I Forget I’m Pregnant

John Sciulli/WireImage

Her baby belly may be hard to miss, but Jessica Capshaw often has to be reminded that she’s expecting.

“When I’m out trying to get stuff done other people are like, ‘Oh my God! You’re pregnant,’” the Grey’s Anatomy star tells PEOPLE Saturday at the launch of Diane Von Furstenberg’s GapKids + DVF collection at The Grove in Los Angeles.

“I’ll look down [shocked, like], ‘Yes! Yes I am!’”

With two children at home, Capshaw, 35, says she is not as focused on the “day-to-day of being pregnant” this time around.

“During the first pregnancy you’re so concentrated. It’s all exciting and new and it seems like the most interminable 10 months of your life,” she says of expecting son Luke Hudson, 4½.

“The second one goes by a little faster because you’ve got the first one to take care of,” Capshaw explains of her second pregnancy with daughter Eve Augusta, 16 months.

“With this third one, I woke up and I was six months pregnant,” she laughs. “I’m like, ‘What happened?!’”

While she’s still surprised by her belly, Capshaw and her husband, The Honest Company‘s Christopher Gavigan, expect to have two great helpers when their third child arrives this summer.

“My little boy is the best big brother in the world,” she says. “And my little girl has no idea what is going on but when you say, ‘Where is the baby?’ she knows and gives it a kiss.”

Jokes Capshaw: “That’ll last until the baby comes and then she’ll be like, ‘Get out of my way.’”

– Patrick Gomez

Comments

Lisa on March 5th, 2012

Some people act like pregnant women aren’t supposed to do anything! Yes she does work and she can do errands. She’s pregnant, not dead!

Kim on March 5th, 2012

She’s pg again?! She just had her babygirl didn’t she? She’s fertile lol

Viv on March 5th, 2012

Kim- she had her baby girl in Oct. 2010 lol but yah it was pretty quick

TE on March 5th, 2012

Cute story. Was she really pregnant with her first for ten months? That happened to my aunt in the ’60s, my cousin was a big baby!

meg on March 5th, 2012

she’s tiny!!! i looked like that at 4 months!

Michele on March 5th, 2012

@ TE…A typical pregnancy is 10 months…40 weeks=10 months…I really dont know where the 9 months came from….

Tia on March 5th, 2012

@TE most women are pregnant 10 months. A pregnancy is 40 weeks…

Jen on March 5th, 2012

Actually Michele, 40 weeks is ten lunar months, but not necessarily ten months as we know it.

My first was born at 39 weeks and 1 day, exactly 9 months after the first day of my last period.

My second was born at 39 weeks exactly, 9 months and 3 days after the first day of my last period.

Cory on March 5th, 2012

Actually, a pregnancy is only 9 months. One month is not 4 weeks, it is 4 weeks and 2 days or 4 weeks and 3 days. Add those extra days up and you lose that 10th month.

Jodi on March 5th, 2012

There is more that 4 weeks in an average month, that is why it ends up being 40 weeks..do the math people

Matt on March 5th, 2012

She looks so much better than frumpy Jessica Simpson.

DR on March 5th, 2012

Whether it’s lunar or actual, each of my 9 pregnancies have gone to either 41 or 42 weeks. Would that then be considered ten months? Pregnant with #10 now and pretty sure we’re going to see that tenth month again.

Anonymous on March 5th, 2012

I think the best way to look at pregnancy is that most women are pregnant for nine FULL months. That is, most women give birth at the END of their ninth month (and thus nearly ten months after conception).

Anyway, I don’t quite understand how you can forget you’re pregnant. I wouldn’t think that’s something that would be easy to forget (especially at her stage, where she can more than likely feel the baby kicking and moving up a storm!)!

Also, I’m a bit confused as to how a 16 month old can understand that mommy has a baby in her belly!

CCT0303 on March 5th, 2012

Anonymous you always try to be so technical but what you really end up doing is making a fool out of yourself.. I doubt that she was being literal.

Tee on March 5th, 2012

Such a sweet article!

Anonymous, I think she just meant that she is very use to being pregnant. It’s familiar to her and therefore she doesn’t think about it. I’ve had many a pregnant woman say that they all but forget that they are expecting at times. And I’m very sorry that someone felt the need to be rude to you in a comment. I don’t think you sounded foolish at all.

Me on March 5th, 2012

DR to answer your question 41 weeks nor 42 weeks makes it 10 months. That is 9 months and 1 week for the 41 weeks. As for the 42 weeks that is 9 months and two weeks. I hope this helps.

Julianna on March 6th, 2012

Jessica looks lovely on the picture!

Emilie on March 6th, 2012

She works? Or does she “work”…. I’m guessing she “works”.

If my dad was her dad I would be doing sweet FA, and loving it.

Instead I am pregnant and I have been sitting at my desk for 6 hours, another 3 to go.

Melanie on March 6th, 2012

WTF Emilie? She’s a main character on Grey’s Anatomy – which, surprise! it even mentions right in the article.

Marky on March 6th, 2012

I remember when I was pregnant the last time, and I tried to relish every minute of it because I had been told I would never be able to get pregnant again, so I even laid awake at night focusing on what it felt like to feel the kicks and just being pregnant. I loved it the first time and I loved it the last time! My guess with Jessica is that she doesn’t plan for this to be her last. I would have loved to be pregnant 10 times; just not sure I would have wanted to have 10 teenagers, LOL!

Congrats to Jessica, she seems like a caring mom and one who enjoys her children.

Holiday on March 6th, 2012

So what you have to work Emile? So did I until the day before I had my baby.

Jessica is a really pretty lady! I remember seeing pics of her daughter and she is such a cute little chunk of a baby.

larijcap on March 6th, 2012

Gosh she is GORGEOUS as always.. But yeah, so tiny. I have a feeling it’s a boy.. what do you guys think?

TLH on March 6th, 2012

Steven Spielberg is her step-dad, thus her last name of Capshaw.

Jillian on March 6th, 2012

Cct0303

LOVE your post!!!!!

Mary

Kat on March 6th, 2012

@Jen: Um…we don’t need the dates of your periods. Thanks.

AG on March 6th, 2012

I’m 26 weeks pregnant with a 21 month old daughter and I also babysit an 11 month old full time. If I didn’t feel the baby moving and squirming around in my stomach, I’d totally forget I was pregnant. This pregnancy is just so easy and, with being so busy, I have other things to focus on!

I can completely understand how she can forget, too. She is adorable, though. I wish my second pregnancy was as cute as her third!

Mads on March 6th, 2012

TE, pregnancy lasts 40 weeks, or 10 months. That’s normal for all pregnant women.

Donna on March 6th, 2012

40 weeks pregnancy = 280 days, which equals 9 months plus 5 days usually. Sometimes 9 months plus 7 days if passing by February in your pregnancy. Example pregnancy using the 9 months and 5 day rule: Last period March 6, 2012, due date would be December 11, 2012. Count the days: 25 days left in March, 30 in April, 31 in May, 30 June, 31 July, 31 August, 30 September, 31 October, 30 November & 11 in December (25+30+31+30+31+31+30+31+30+11=280 days=40 weeks). Therefore 40 weeks pregnancy does not equal 10 months.

Sabrina on March 6th, 2012

Like some have said, a pregnancy is 40 weeks because some months have more than 4 weeks, which usually adds two weeks or so. Also, a woman is technically not pregnant for the first two weeks of her pregnancy, if that makes sense. A woman usually conceives mid-cycle, but as a better way of keeping track of the progression of the pregnancy, you back-calculate to your last period as the “start” of the pregnancy, which adds approximately another two weeks.

showbizmom on March 6th, 2012

I can totally see where she’s coming from. I’m on my 3rd and in the beginning I would forget all the time that I was with child. I just thought it was pregnancy brain.

@Emilie She works! Actors work, trust me. Being on set for 8-15 hours a day running lines, blocking scenes, press and being a mom isn’t easy work. It might seem like it but it’s not. Your work is hard, but so is an actors job no matter what you see on TV or in the movies.

Hope she has a wonderful pregnancy.

Diana on March 6th, 2012

I HATE her… Just kidding. I just wish when I was pregnant I would be able to feel comfortable enough to feel like I’m not pregnant for 5 minutes. People arguing that they are pregnant for 10 months annoys me though. Like others have said one month is not exactly 4 weeks. And like someone else said the first 2 weeks you really aren’t even pregnant anyways. I believe when I figured it out for my pregnancies my due date was 9 months and 8 days from my LMP. Although maybe it FEELS like 10 months (or LONGER) its not!!

TJ on March 6th, 2012

Yes, working, running errands, etc. doesn’t stop unless you’re put on medical rest when pregnant.

I remember when I was in the grocery store express line, an older gent pointed to my belly and asked when I was due. I told him the truth, “2 days ago” and he insisted I cut in front of him in line. He even asked what I was doing at the store and I had to tell him we needed groceries! I think he was afraid my water would break right there and it actually had to be broken at the hospital after many hours of labor just before I pushed for 2 hours.

My mother-in-law’s mother even had to deliver her own child on a farm and right after was making donuts for the rest of the kids. The dr. didn’t arrive until 2 days later and her husband was away. We sure have it a lot easier than years ago!

Shannon on March 6th, 2012

I forget she was pregnant, too.

mel on March 6th, 2012

“41 weeks nor 42 weeks makes it 10 months. That is 9 months and 1 week for the 41 weeks. As for the 42 weeks that is 9 months and two weeks. I hope this helps.

– Me”

Sorry, I’m going to correct you here “Me”.

Pregnancy cycles are calculated based on a 28 day cycle (4 weeks), therefore a pregnancy is 40 weeks, even though it is commonplace to say that 36 weeks is fullterm. That’s why most OB/GYNs and midwives will let (most) women go to 42 weeks before induction.

So technically, someone who is 40 weeks pregnant, is 10 months pregnant, at least based on that 28 day cycle. Someone who is 9 months and 2 weeks pregnant is considered 38 weeks pregnant.

I know that every woman’s cycle is different but this 28-day one is the one that everything seems to be based on.

Anonymous on March 6th, 2012

Kat- Where did Jen say the dates of her periods?!