This Is Us Producers Answer All Your Questions About Kate and Toby’s Baby

Warning: This Is Us spoilers ahead.

For weeks the cast and producers of This Is Us have been teasing tonight's episode as a game changer, and now we know why. After a season of anticipation, Kate finally gave birth to her son, whom she (unsurprisingly) named Jack. The wait is over!

Actually, waiting was pretty much the theme of this entire episode, appropriately titled "The Waiting Room." Most of the 41 minutes was spent watching Rebecca, Miguel, Beth, Randall, Kevin, Zoe, and even Madison waiting in the hospital as Kate goes into premature labor. The waiting room was basically a character in itself—which makes sense, given the episode was written in an actual hospital waiting room. "Bekah Brunstetter [the writer] wanted to get all those weird little details that came across in the script by actually putting herself in the real situation," This Is Us executive producer and coshowrunner Isaac Aptaker says.

But much of the episode doesn't involve Kate as much as it centers on each character's own crossroads in life. Rebecca and Miguel contemplate moving cross-country to be closer to Kate and the baby. Beth fears giving up her new teaching job to suit her family's needs. Kevin continues drinking...and lying to Zoe about it.

Ultimately, Kate and Toby's son is born 10 to 12 weeks premature. While he—and the rest of the family—prepare for a tough fight ahead, executive producers and coshowrunners Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger fill us in on what's to come and how tonight's episode came to be.

Glamour: Kate and Toby's baby looks extremely lifelike, but it's very difficult to film with a baby so tiny. How did you manage those scenes?

Isaac Aptaker: We brought in a very talented team of artists that create incredibly lifelike, accurate-to-size premature babies that are operated by a variety of animatronic and puppeteering devices. It's great for our actors, because it’s not done afterward on computers. They’re able to look at this baby, which really looks like a baby, and emote off it.

The baby was born at 28 weeks. What can you say about any physical or developmental delays?

Isaac: We don’t want to give anything away, but when we’re telling a story like this, we are aware of how sensitive it is and how triggering it can be. We know many people have dealt with experiences like this, so we’re trying to be realistic and sensitive to that. Nothing is going to be drawn out just for TV's sake. There are going to be lots of answers coming very, very quickly, and we’re just trying to respectfully and accurately tell something that isn’t seen enough on TV, in our opinion, because of how many people it affects.

What kind of team did you bring in to make sure you were accurately telling this story?

Isaac: My girlfriend’s aunt runs a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) in Pennsylvania and has a ton of information to offer on this. She got on the phone with us for hours and answered all of our questions. Then, on the day we filmed those scenes, we had medical technicians and consultants. We also wanted to hear the personal stories, so we brought in a couple of moms we knew personally who gave birth prematurely to hear what it was like, emotionally and anecdotally for them.

Kate and Toby name the baby Jack. Will we see Rebecca's reaction?

Isaac: We actually don’t see the immediate reaction because of how the timing works in next week’s episode, but I think we can assume that Kate checked in with Rebecca before she made it official, and Rebecca feels really good about it.

Elizabeth Berger: When we talked about it in the writers room, we were like, "So what’s his name going to be?" It was so obvious to everyone that his name would be Jack. There was barely any other option. I think Kate’s family expects it, and it will be a very beautiful and meaningful thing to carry on Jack Pearson's name.

Was there any talk about naming him Jackson or Jacob since Jack is a nickname of both?

Elizabeth: I think there was. I think the one conversation we had about it was centered on whether that put so much pressure on this baby to be named after this looming figure. Ultimately, we decided it just felt right. We couldn’t imagine Kate naming him anything else.

It also was a nice way to tie in Milo [Ventimiglia, who plays Jack] to this episode.

Isaac: Yeah, even when Milo is not physically onscreen in an episode, the character always looms so large and is a core part of the fabric of this family. That felt like a really nice way to pay it off.

While Kate was in surgery tonight, other stories were unfolding. Rebecca and Miguel announced plans to move to California to help Kate and Toby with the baby. Was that always in the works?

Isaac: Yeah, Rebecca and Miguel had been there for the early years of Randall and his family; it made sense that she’d probably want to do the same for Kate. We’re not at Rebecca and Miguel’s house in the East Coast a ton, so it’s never been a huge, meaningful location for us. It feels exciting to see what they’ll be like on a different coast and making a new home for themselves.

Does this make it easier as a storytelling device as well, since you’re always having to juggle the different coasts?

Elizabeth: Yes, it does. We’re always looking for new pairings on the same coast. It definitely makes [it easier] when people are closer together.

Now that we're seeing more of Miguel and Rebecca in the present day, will we ever find out what happened to his ex-wife, Shelley?

Isaac: Yes, definitely. Not this season, but down the line. We’ve alluded to her marrying some wealthy guy and taking off, but I don’t think we’ve talked about it in the way of specifics.

Let’s move on to Beth and Randall. Who’s watching the kids in this episode? Because both of them take off to Los Angeles literally on a moment’s notice.

Isaac: Randall and Beth have some really great child care that we have not seen on this show before. They have their in-a-pinch people they can call on. We’ve shot scenes before where they’re paying a random extra for watching the kids that we always cut. We just don’t want to spend our precious 41 minutes on it.

Obviously, you needed Beth and Randall in the same room tonight for story purposes, but for a couple that's worried about finances, there was no need for both of them to go on this trip.

Isaac: Totally fair. Are you volunteering to be their financial planner? Because I don’t disagree.

Will Randall realize how demanding he's been to Beth and come to any sort of resolution or understanding in the next few episodes?

Elizabeth: We’re definitely going to continue to delve deeper into both sides of this couple’s point of view the rest of this season. We have an episode coming up that we are so excited about that focuses on a few different dramatic points throughout their marriage. There's an entire Beth and Randall episode in different time periods; when it’s over, you’ll really get a full picture of the years these two have spent together. We’re excited for people to see an even fuller portrait of this couple than they’ve seen so far.

Let’s move on to Kevin and the fact that he was drinking vodka in his water bottle all night long. He's grappling with a serious disease. Where will his story go the remainder of the season? And what about his relationship with Zoe?

Isaac: You’re exactly right. It is a disease, and it’s so easy to forget that. It seems like he’s just being selfish and self-destructive, but it is a disease. That’s why we wanted to tell this relapse story. It's so rare that someone says they’re going to be sober and then they don’t have a slip-up. That said, Zoe is a particularly difficult person to be in a relationship with when you're hiding things because she worked so hard to trust Kevin—as we showed during the first half of our season. Now that she knows he’s off the wagon and immediately lied to her about it the same day, they have some serious work to do to. Either repair their relationship or not.

Will Nicky come back into the picture? It seems he and Kevin are both on the same wavelength in terms of how they cope with difficulties in life.

Elizabeth: It definitely feels like there is more story to tell there, so there’s always a chance that people will be returning.

Finally, what can you say about next week’s episode?

Isaac: We are going back to one of our favorite time periods, which is the Big Three as 12-year-olds, and they’re entering the beginning stages of puberty and going to their first dance.

Elizabeth: It’s a really exciting episode for Randall and Beth, as well. It’s really intense. Even though we know what’s going to happen, we still felt that intensity when we watched.

Isaac: It’s a really good mix of explosive and nostalgic.

Jessica Radloff is the Glamour West Coast editor. Follow her on Instagram here and Twitter here.