Dr. Miranda Bailey ‑- aka "The Nazi" ‑- recently gave birth on Grey's Anatomy, but in reality Chandra Wilson, who plays the no-nonsense chief resident, had her third child, six-pound, 14-ounce Michael last fall. For Wilson, a Houston native and veteran of the stage, TV and movies like Lone Star, Philadelphia and this summer's Strangers with Candy, that meant one hell of an extended pregnancy.

"That thing is very annoying. It itches," she pooh-poohs about the pregnancy pad she wore until her character delivered. Wilson, who is the very approachable antithesis of the woman who makes interns tremble on-screen, compares her pregnancies ‑- factual and fictional ‑- with us.

Was your latest real-life delivery easier than Bailey's?
Yes. My pregnancy and delivery were like a dream. I had a cesarean birth. He was about 10 days early. I couldn't have asked for it to go better.

Was shooting the delivery scene as exhausting as it looked?
I did all the pushing back-to-back in the same day. I knew what it was going to be like, so I was in a zone.