Grey’s Anatomy Speculation: 4 Ways Meredith’s Pregnancy Will Affect Derek

Credit: Ron Tom/ ABC

In case you haven’t heard the good news, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) is pregnant! Even though we had a sneaking suspicion this might happen, we were still overwhelmed with joy after seeing Mer’s happy face on Season 9, Episode 7: "I Was Made for Lovin’ You" when she told Derek (Patrick Dempsey) about her (still very early) pregnancy.

Speaking of Derek, however, there are a few (mostly good) ways his life will change now that his wife is expecting. Let’s go through the biggest ones.

More pressure to fix his hand. As if Derek weren’t under enough pressure to successfully have the nerve damage in his hand repaired, now he may need to step it up work-wise. Or at least he’ll feel more stressed about the idea of taking care of his pregnant wife and daughter Zola. Will his added pressures affect his renewed working relationship with Callie (Sara Ramirez) too?

Could Derek become a stay-at-home dad? Of course, there’s also the possibility that the surgery doesn’t work. We’ve already seen how complicated simply choosing a procedure can be, so we wouldn’t be surprised if Derek’s hand never fully recovers. We’ve seen that Derek isn’t satisfied by teaching, so we could see him leaving the hospital altogether and taking over for Meredith at home. Besides, Meredith’s career is alive and well, and after she presumably goes on maternity leave, there’s no reason why she wouldn’t return to work.

Credit: Ron Tom/ ABC

Derek’s extended family could come into play. We already know that Derek’s sister (played by Neve Campbell)  is coming to Seattle on next week’s episode (Season 9, Episode 8: “Love Turns You Upside Down”, airing December 6), but if Derek has not one but two children, we could see more of his East Coast family members dropping by in Seattle. Meredith has never been pregnant before, so we would think more of her family (including, possibly, Thatcher?) would come into the mix as well.

His ego might need to take a seat. One of the reasons Derek earned his nickname McDreamy, not to mention his stellar reputation, is because he is confident in his abilities as a surgeon. You might even say his ego is (or, was) extremely healthy. But with Meredith pregnant, and eventually, with two children and a hampered career, Derek might need to let go of his ego and become a bit more humble.

How else do you think Derek will be affected by a new baby?

Catch the next new episode of Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday, December 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.