If you watch enough TV, you’ve spotted that awkward situation when an actress is pregnant — but the baby bump doesn’t work with the storyline. Suddenly your favorite character is shot only sitting in bed or with her torso placed carefully behind a filing cabinet or giant potted plant. For the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” the challenge is twofold: The show’s two lead actresses — Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders, who play Lily and Robin, respectively — announced their real-life pregnancies, within weeks of each other, last fall. As co-creator/executive producer Craig Thomas said in his congratulatory statement, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go down to our wardrobe department to check out the large burlap sacks Robin and Lily will inexplicably be wearing for the rest of the season.” Series co-creator/executive producer Carter Bays talked to us about how, aside from a wink-at-the-viewers stomach bump after a hot-dog-eating contest, the show will deal with the moms-to-be.

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