Baby Boom
GUIDING LIGHT co-stars Jessica Leccia (Natalia) and Marcy Rylan (Lizzie) are currently bonding over their real-life status as moms-to-be, but it’s certainly not the first time multiple GL actresses have shared simultaneous maternal glows! We look back at how other GL momma’s embraced their baby bumps, both on-screen and off.
1987
Kim Zimmer (Reva) was pregnant with her real-life son Max when her daytime alter ego was expecting Marah with Josh in reel-life. In 1990, Zimmer gave birth to her third child, Jake and left GL to test the prime-time waters in Hollywood. Reva, meanwhile, drove off a bridge to her presumed death after giving birth to Shayne.
1998
Elizabeth Keifer (Blake) and Fiona Hutchison (ex-Jenna) helped kick off one of GL’s first big off-screen baby booms with the births of Keifer’s daughter Isabella and Hutchison’s second son, Trevor.
The expectant mothers dished about working while pregnant in the 1/6/98 issue of Digest. “Fiona’s much more demure about it than I am,” Keifer quipped. “I come down and I’m waiting for this one particular restaurant to pen at 11:30 on the dot. I’m in the middle of makeup and I tell them, ‘You have to stop. I have to order this now!’ If you’ve been there since 7 [am] you need to eat. They’re starting to fear me,” she joked.
GL did not write Keifer’s pregnancy into Blake’s storyline (La Marler had just given on-screen birth to twins Kevin and Jason with Ross). Keifer said taping intense “dominatrix” scenes, while pregnant, with her then on-screen flame Hunt Block (ex-Ben) was very emotionally and physically draining. “I keep telling my little baby, ‘Honey this is for fun. It’s play!'” she shared in the 3/24/98 issue of Weekly. “They changed the blocking at the last minute to make it more of a raw, animal thing. Hunt was handcuffed to the bed with one hand and the other hand, he truly had me. And I’m a strong girl, too! It was my call to stop anytime. I got so emotional though, they had to peel me off the floor. The poor crew just didn’t know what to do with a hysterical pregnant woman!” GL’s Jenna became pregnant by Jeffrey Morgan, making the timing right for Hutchison’s real-life pregnancy. After Trevor was born the following year, art imitated life yet again. Hutchison brought her son to work and the infant had his daytime debut, portraying Jenna’s son Ian (a.k.a “Rocky”, whom Buzz adopted), for a year. At the time, Hutchison laughed, “You sort of get into the mindset of baby,work,baby, work. In some ways it works quite well!” 
1999
Beth Ehlers (ex-Harley) gave birth to her first child, Hank. The same year, Harley had Phillip’s son, Zach, on-screen. “Having children has changed me,” Elhers told Digest. “There’s something profound about it. It’s amazing how they become your every priority.”
2000
There was yet another round of baby fever on the GL set. Crystal Chappell (Olivia), Keifer, and Laura Wright (ex-Cassie) were all new moms. Ehlers was also pregnant with her second son, Will, which paved the way for GL’s Harley to bear son Jude with Rick (even though she was married to Phil!) Off-screen, the women shared a very close-knit bond. In 2001, Crystal Chappell revealed, “I’ve asked every lady at GUIDING LIGHT for advice, because they all have a lot of experience to draw from. It’s helpful. It’s comforting because things happen that you don’t know what it is, then somebody will say, ‘Oh that’s him starting to teethe or he’s just frustrated because he’s trying to walk.’ ”
2003
Nancy St. Alban (ex-Michelle) Yvonna Wright (Mel) and Chappell announced their pregnancies in the same year. Wright and St. Alban even shared a real-life nanny! Life in Springfield was also full of surprises. GL was forced to rework several storylines. Olivia gave birth Emma and Leah Bauer (Mel’s daughter with Rick) was born on-screen the following year. 
2005
Beth Chamberlin (Beth) found out she was going to become a mom to son Luke. In 2001, Chamberlin joked with Digest that she wasn’t ready to be a mom just yet, citing vicarious postpartum depression from her alter ego’s birth to James. “My character was pregnant for nine months so I sort of feel like I just had a baby. Part of me is like, ‘I just got out of maternity clothes!'” Meanwhile, St. Alban left for maternity leave to have her second child, Lucie. When she returned three months later, her real-life pregnancy dovetailed into Michelle’s on-screen pregnancy with Hope. “It’s never fun to be pregnant and have them not write it in, only because it stresses everybody else out,” she told Weekly in the 8/9/05 issue. “Plus, you never look good. You’re wearing bigger clothes and your face is getting bloated!”
2009
Currently, there’s another round of babies on board. In addition to Leccia (Natalia) and Rylan (Lizzie), Daniel Cosgrove (Bill) and Bradley Cole (Jeffrey) are also new dads! GL is trying to hide Leccia’s growing baby bump on-camera with scarves, jackets and a huge bouquet at Nat’s almost-wedding to Frank last week. The actress is due in June. As for Rylan, who recently announced she’s due in late October, she laughs, “Most of the time in the entertainment industry, there’s a pressure to women to not have babies but you come to our show and that’s all it’s about. Everyone has kids and a family. It’s such a welcoming environment that it’s just natural! It’s a very family-friendly place … and there’s some kind of weird hormone in the water! But it makes it easier to have some people to talk with about it.” She’s looking forward to embracing her own bump and even rooting for a possible “Bizzie” baby. “I’m up for anything!” she winks.
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