Read The Big Bang Theory Star Melissa Rauch's Powerful Essay on Miscarriage

Melissa Rauch got a raise from The Big Bang Theory at just the right time -- she's pregnant!

The actress, who plays Bernadette Wolowitz on the CBS comedy, announced that she's expecting with a fall due date in an essay published in Glamour. Rauch's feelings are not totally joyous, though, because the essay is about how she suffered after a previous pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.

She says, "Here is the only statement regarding my pregnancy that doesn't make me feel like a complete fraud: 'Melissa is expecting her first child. She is extremely overjoyed, but if she's being honest, due to the fact that she had a miscarriage the last time she was pregnant, she's pretty much terrified at the moment that it will happen again. She feels weird even announcing this at all, and would rather wait until her child heads off to college to tell anyone, but she figures she should probably share this news before someone sees her waddling around with her mid-section protruding and announces it first.'"

She goes on to give a detailed account of the grief and guilt and depression she felt, calls for a moratorium on asking women about their reproduction plans (or lack thereof), and reveals the reason why she's sharing this intensely personal experience about the unborn baby she lost: "Ideally, the more we talk about this issue, the more we can chip away at the unnecessary stigma around it, with the end result being that those of us struggling with loss and infertility will feel less alone."

It's a funny and touching and brave essay, and you should read it.

But here at TV Guide, we still have a TV question: how will Rauch's pregnancy affect Season 11 of The Big Bang Theory?

It didn't affect Season 10 at all, though she did wear some loose tops in late-season episodes that in retrospect seem more practical than fashionable. The timeline puts conception right around the time Bernadette gave birth on the show, which is kind of funny. But Season 11 is a different story. Probably what will happen is Bernadette will be doing a lot of sitting down or standing behind the couch or holding baby Halley in a way that hides her belly, and then she'll take a trip or otherwise be off-camera for a few episodes while Rauch takes maternity leave.

Which just means we'll be getting more Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) in those episodes. Which is fine; we were probably going to get a lot of them anyway.

The Big Bang Theory premieres Monday, Sept. 25 at 8/7c on CBS.

(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS.)