Patricia Heaton became a household name as Debra Barone, Ray Romano's wife on the hit sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.

While her character was a mom onscreen to Ally and twins Geoffrey and Michael, Heaton was also raising a growing family offscreen. Motherhood was a role she never clocked out of.

According to a 1998 interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in real life, Heaton was expecting her fourth child at the time. While Everybody Loves Raymond kept her busy in its third season, it didn't stop other opportunities from coming her way. The one thing that did? Her children.

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"I was offered a couple of TV movies, but I've got three kids...," Heaton said. "Sometimes you've got to choose between the money and being with them. You always want to be with them."

There was something of a "baby boom" among the Everybody Loves Raymond cast. Heaton had her third child during the show's run, Romano welcomed a new baby, and Brad Garrett, who played Ray's brother, Robert, was also expecting a child with his wife.

"Now, I have to have another baby to keep up," Heaton joked. "We're like a little fertility clinic over there. If you've got anyone you want to get pregnant, send them over to the show."

Ironically, while babies were arriving left and right behind the scenes, the Barone children rarely stole the spotlight onscreen.

According to the interview, the sitcom focused primarily on the adults. The children were part of the family, but they were rarely the center of the story. Combined, the main cast could have filled a daycare, but the writers kept the attention on the grown-ups.

"The show is about a family, but it's not about the kids, which Ray says in the opening credits all the time," Heaton added. "And that's the way we like it."

Everybody Loves Raymond wasn't your father's Brady Bunch. While it was still a family sitcom, it approached family life from a completely different angle. Instead of centering on the children's adventures, it leaned into the misunderstandings and arguments between adults. 

According to the interview, Heaton's pregnancy was not expected to be written into the script. Instead, she planned to hide behind couches, oversized clothing and carefully placed props. It was a small price to pay to keep the cameras rolling.

So while there was a real-life "baby boom" among the cast, it never became one onscreen. The series embraced the idea that Everybody Loves Raymond was a family show, but it was a family built on suspicion, conflict, distrust and plenty of dysfunction.

In other words, the laughs kept being delivered, even if the babies stayed mostly out of sight.