Big Bang Theory Star Melissa Rauch Welcomes Son Brooks — and Reveals She Gave Birth Alone

Melissa Rauch is a mom again!

The Big Bang Theory actress, 39, revealed the happy news on social media Monday, announcing that she's given birth to her second child — a baby boy named Brooks, who joins Rauch and husband Winston Rauch's daughter Sadie, 2½.

"I am incredibly thankful and overjoyed to announce the birth of our son, Brooks Rauch, who we just welcomed into the world and directly into our hearts," Rauch wrote, alongside a photo of a blue baby cap with Brooks' name stitched on it.

Having previously experienced a miscarriage before welcoming her daughter, Rauch included a note to "those dealing with infertility or grieving a loss."

"As I've previously shared, I am no stranger to loss on the road to motherhood," wrote Rauch. "Please know you are in my heart and I’m sending you so much love."

She also acknowledged the odd timing of her son's birth, revealing that the coronavirus pandemic made the experience bittersweet.

"His arrival was made possible, in no small part, by the front line heroes — the nurses and doctors who show up each day to make sure that life keeps marching forward, regardless of the circumstances," Rauch wrote. "Words can't describe how grateful I am to have this baby boy join our family, but to say that it is a surreal time to be bringing life into the world is an understatement."

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To help other expectant mothers or "Pandemamamas" — as she's dubbed those who have had children during the COVID-19 outbreak — Rauch penned a first-person essay for Glamour.

In the piece, the actress revealed that she had to give birth alone, explaining that although the hospital allowed birth partners, her husband had to stay home with their daughter since no one could watch the little girl.

Rauch said she spent weeks leading up to her due date "fearful of how this would all go down."

"I'd had good days where I'd felt optimistic — 'I can do this!' — and other days of complete 'What kind of fresh hell are we living in?!' panic," she recalled. "The anxiety over giving birth without an advocate and support system in tow, compounded with the exposure concerns of walking into a hospital during a pandemic, were a lot to process. So I tried my best to prepare for a scenario I never thought I'd face: filling my hospital bag with disinfecting wipes and practicing labor breathing in a mask like I was training for a dystopian marathon."

"Being pregnant has historically been fraught with angst for women, especially for those, like myself, who've previously experienced pregnancy loss," she added. "The times we are currently living in ratcheted my worry to another level."

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Eventually she was able to calm herself down when she realized that she "won't be alone."

"I have a partner. The same one that's been listening to my heartbeat inside me for nine months," Rauch said. "It somehow helped me. I found comfort in the idea that this would be our first adventure together."

It also gave her comfort to recognize that she "had a job to do."

"I'd be lying if I said there weren't times during the intensity of labor that I craved the comfort of my husband being there with me physically. I don't want to sugarcoat it; it's an inherently difficult situation and there were moments I felt every feeling in the book of feelings — so much so that my feelings were having major feelings," she said. "But here's the great thing I realized about birth: It is never going to take a backseat to anything. No matter what is going down, when one human is coming out of another human it becomes the main focus — there's no other choice. No pandemic, or fear of being alone, or anger over not having a partner there to bitch-slap through the whole hellish gauntlet of labor gets airtime. I had a job to do. The nurses, the doctor, and my husband (who joined on FaceTime to see the birth of our son) ultimately made me feel safe and protected."

Frazer Harrison/Getty Melissa Rauch

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In the end, Rauch said she hoped other expectant mothers would learn from her example and let themselves off the hook.

"It's okay to grieve how you thought things would be," she said. "I had such feelings of guilt that I should just be grateful for a healthy pregnancy rather than focus on the less than ideal situation surrounding it. But those two feelings aren't mutually exclusive — you can be thankful to be on the verge of having a baby and pissed that you have to deal with this unfair s--- show."

"Although none of us has a crystal ball to predict how our children will be brought into this surreal world, there are some things I do know. Namely, you are stronger than you think — more than you ever imagined possible," she added. "And also my perineum hurts the same excruciating amount that it did after my last birth. So the good news is that some things about birthing are exactly the same, pandemic or not."

"You are not alone," Rauch continued. "All of us ... are in this together. Just as I reminded myself, you can do this, you will do this, and you will do so with the fierceness of all the powerful warrior women before you who have brought life — and hope — into this world during the most unfathomable of times."