Is Molly McCook's 'Last Man Standing' Baby Bump Real?

On the April 23 episode of Last Man Standing, Mandy (Molly McCook) revealed that she’s pregnant with her and Kyle’s first child, making her the second Baxter woman to be expecting a baby this season.

As we previously reported, Kristin’s pregnancy storyline was created to accommodate actress Amanda Fuller’s real-life baby bump, so does that mean Molly is preparing to welcome her own little bundle of joy off screen?

Unlike her co-star, Molly isn’t actually pregnant. After the big Mandy bombshell aired, the blonde beauty showed off her prosthetic belly on Instagram. 

The 29-year-old may not be expecting, but she’s certainly had plenty of reasons to celebrate over the last year. In September, Molly married Broadway actor John Krause at the Santa Barbara Zoo. 

"Our whole relationship has been about sharing adventures, and we’re so excited to begin this new adventure in such an ideal location surrounded by friends and family," the groom told People magazine at the time.

The couple also shared what they’re most looking forward to after tying the knot. "Husband and wife means partners for life. Forever with him excites me the most!" Molly admitted. 

John added, "It’s such a simple thing, but I’m really looking forward to referring to Molly as 'my wife.' It’s such a beautiful thing, and the love and commitment associated with that word encapsulates everything I feel for her."

The 35-year-old, who joined the Last Man Standing cast in Season 2, welcomed son Hayes Blue in November after a long battle with endometriosis (an often painful disorder in which endometrial tissue grows outside the uterus, typically on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, or intestines).

Doctors had told Amanda that she likely couldn’t get pregnant in her current condition, so the best course of action would be surgery to remove the affected tissue. She found out she was expecting while preparing for the procedure.

"I was extremely nauseous. I couldn’t eat anything," she recalled in an interview with RAISE magazine. "They did more hormone tests, and the results pointed to potential ovarian cancer. So I went to New York and had an MRI to look for cancer, and that’s when we discovered my son."

Amanda said she tried not to get her hopes up because doctors weren’t sure at first whether or not it was a viable pregnancy. "More tests were needed to see if there was a heartbeat, so we spent a good day or two trying not to embrace it as truth," she confessed. 

"But we knew that regardless of how it turned out, it was a miracle. Now we knew we could get pregnant," the Orange Is the New Black alum explained. "It turned out our son was seven weeks along and had a strong heartbeat."

Unfortunately, the struggle isn’t over for Amanda or her husband, Matthew Bryan Feld. On March 17, the new mom announced on social media that Hayes had been diagnosed with a rare blood disorder.

"We are dealing with some complications at the moment," she wrote. "We are not quite ready to tell his story, but will soon. Until then, we thank you for holding him in your hearts and prayers. He is the definition of strength and this too shall pass..."

New episodes of Last Man Standing air Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.