Desperate Housewives: How Gaby Had Two Children (After Her Accident)

The time jump at the very end of season 4 of Desperate Housewives propelled the events of Wisteria Lane five years ahead, but it was never explained how Gaby was able to have children after her accident in season 2. Season 5 of the ABC dramedy premiered in September 2008, picking up where the previous finale had left off. During this viewer time gap, Gabrielle “Gaby” Solis (played by Eva Longoria) and the show’s other main characters had been going about their lives. Naturally, things changed and progressed, but the most glaring difference from where the series left off was that Gaby suddenly had two daughters, whose names were revealed to be Juanita and Celia.

This came as a shock for many reasons. One, of course, was that Gaby had been emphatic about not intending to have children in Desperate Housewives‘ early seasons. And then, in season 2, after discovering that she was unexpectedly pregnant and suffering from some subsequent distress, she finally started to warm up to the idea of motherhood. Unfortunately, she suffered a tragic miscarriage when she accidentally fell down a flight of stairs while trying to elude a home intruder. It was after this loss that Gaby was told that she might not be able to have children again and seemed to accept the possibility that biologically having a child was unattainable, which made the little girls’ post-time jump presence seem like an initial incongruence.

Gaby and Carlos even attempted to have a child via surrogacy with their maid, Xiao-Mei—though this endeavor was ultimately thwarted due to a bizarre mix-up where another couple’s embryo was implanted instead. Time and time again, the Desperate Housewives husband and wife seemed to have no luck with having children. But although fans were initially left scratching their heads at this sudden childbearing shift in the plotline, the logic does in fact add up in the writers’ favor. In season 5, the series used flashbacks to depict Gaby finding out that she was pregnant with each daughter during the time gap, being shocked and distraught both times for different reasons. She was as surprised as viewers when she found out she was pregnant with Juanita as she hadn’t thought it was possible after her accident.

But it was never definitively stated that Gaby couldn’t conceive again. Rather, she was told that it was highly unlikely and she would have to wait to try again. And, in the wake of a potent emotional Desperate Housewives loss such as that, the couple wasn’t actively trying to conceive another child, but, most likely, they probably weren’t as diligent about contraception either. As viewers know from the pregnancy that ended in miscarriage, as well as the surrogate pregnancy with Xiao-Mei, the couple was definitely able to conceive without issue, it was just a matter of whether Gaby’s body was able to heal.

During the time gap, it was completely possible for Gaby and Carlos to have more children. The issue lies more in the show’s lack of explicitly addressing how this plot shift came to be. And, of course, there’s an argument to be made about the show’s writers not sticking to their guns regarding Gaby’s early wish to live happily as a woman without children. But, from what Desperate Housewives has depicted, Juanita and Celia’s existences were more clumsily injected into the plot than flat-out impossible.

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Lindsey DeRoche
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Lindsey DeRoche is a TV and movie features writer for Screen Rant. She received a BA in English, with a concentration in writing, from Plymouth State University in 2018. She’s had a passion for reading, writing, TV, and movies since her early years.

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