Ellen Pompeo
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Ellen Pompeo, who literally puts the Grey in Grey's Anatomy and who just became a mom for the first time, turns 40 today. The actress has been a fan favorite since Meredith Grey quotes and her romance with McDreamy first started in Season One, and nothing has changed since.

Today is also her wedding anniversary with Chris Ivery (2007) and the day she got engaged to him as well (2006). That will make it easier for him to remember, at least ...

Here's a little tribute of Ellen Pompeo pictures to mark the occasion ...

The Grey’s Anatomy cast has been shaken up a lot in recent weeks, but things have returned to normal as Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl returned to work on the show this week.

“They’re back at work and everyone’s happy to see them,” says a source.

Pompeo, who welcomed her first child, Stella Luna Pompeo Ivery on September 15, won’t be absent from any episodes, thanks to the production team’s planning and pre-taping.

After adopting 10-month-old baby Naleigh on September 10 - and taking five weeks off to film the romantic comedy Life As We Know It - Heigl also returned to the set this week.

Heigl’s character, Izzie Stevens, will return to Seattle Grace in the episode airing November 12, the same episode where guest star Kim Raver will begin her stint on the show.

Ellen Pompeo just had a baby, while Katherine Heigl just adopted one.

No word on whether or not Stella and Naleigh have come to work with their moms yet, but if Chyler Leigh’s experience with five-month-old Anniston is any indication, they’re welcome.

“My trailer is overtaken by kid stuff. Anniston has a chair, diapers, wipes, formula, toys,” Leigh said. “Justin [Chambers] crowned [Anniston] baby Elvis because of her mohawk!”

Chyler's baby, born this summer, was her third.

One thing is for sure - soon Anniston, Naleigh and Stella will have a new playmate: Eric Dane and his wife Rebecca Gayheart are expecting their first child together next year.

Talk about a family-friendly set!

While Katherine Heigl is taking a five-episode hiatus this season film a new movie and Dr. Izzie Stevens will be MIA as a result, Ellen Pompeo's Dr. Meredith Grey will be in every episode.

That's great to hear after a slew of rumors about new faces and cast musical chairs.

Sources confirm that Pompeo is expected to return to the set of Grey's Anatomy "very soon" after she and Chris Ivery welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Stella, September 15.

The way it's worked out means that every episode will feature the title character.

This is thanks to her early return, as well as her willingness to pre-shoot scenes before the birth (most of which took place in bed after Meredith's liver surgery in last night's episode).

That's a great piece of news for Meredith and Derek fans, right?

Luckily, no episodes of Grey's Anatomy will be MerDer-less anytime soon.

As for all you Owen and Christina fans worrying about trouble in paradise, new recurring guest star Kim Raver will appear on the show starting November 12 as a SGH surgeon.

If it works out, she could become a series regular.

As for Raver playing a love interest for Owen (Kevin McKidd), "It's possible they do have some kind of connection," a show insider says. "But I think Shonda [Rhimes] and the writers are big fans of Cristina (Sandra Oh) and Owen and will do right by them in the end."

Raver's story line hasn't yet been shot.

Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo is officially a mom!

She and husband Chris Ivery welcomed their first child, a baby girl, on Tuesday, September 15! "Her name is Stella Luna Pompeo Ivery," the actress' rep said Wednesday.

Ellen Pompeo, who announced the pregnancy in April, is on maternity leave from Grey's Anatomy, although it remains unclear how many episodes she'll miss - if any.

Regardless, we're thrilled to hear Ellen's amazing news and look forward to seeing her back on the show, where she will play a huge role, transitional season or not.

Ellen Pompeo has become a mom!

Grey's Anatomy co-star Jessica Capshaw recently said Ellen will do fine as a parent:

"She is so excited, and very sweet. She is exactly the way that she should be about it, which is really excited and hopeful but at the same time really pragmatic."

Congratulations to Ellen Pompeo and Chris Ivery, who dated for several years before getting engaged in 2006 and married in 2007 - both on her birthday!

Here's a little photo tribute to the new parents ...

We normally don't report this kind of thing, and we have no reason to believe it's at all true, but because we like to pass along all the latest Grey's Anatomy gossip (such as the Eric Dane nude tape), gossip being the operative word, here goes nothing:

Ellen Pompeo's husband of two years, Chris Ivery, is allegedly having a steamy affair with a restaurant hostess named Rachel Artz, in his native city of Boston.

"I had sexual relations with Chris Ivery," Rachel Artz herself supposedly told Star Magazine, far from a reliable news source. "We were intimate several times."

Is Ellen Pompeo's husband, Chris Ivery, having an affair?

A rep for the Grey's Anatomy star denied the affair, even as additional sources say that over the course of three months, Chris Ivery rendezvoused with her several times at hotels in Boston and Miami, and a private residence in Martha's Vineyard.

All while Ellen Pompeo as filming Grey's Anatomy in Los Angeles.

"Chris promised Rachel he'd make her a star," a source said. "Chris often took calls from Ellen in front of Rachel and talked about their baby-to-be. He didn't seem to like Ellen much when he talked about her. He made her seem like a diva."

Yeah ... we don't believe it either.

Pregnant Ellen Pompeo was joined by 25 friends - including Grey's Anatomy co-star Sandra Oh, Private Practice leading lady Kate Walsh and Eric Dane's wife Rebecca Gayheart - for a baby shower held Saturday afternoon at Katherine Heigl's home.

Heigl lives in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. Ellen Pompeo and her husband of almost two years, Chris Ivery, are expecting a little baby girl in October.

"Ellen looked gorgeous in a white summer dress with her hair in a braided up-do. She seemed very excited to celebrate with her girlfriends," a close source said.

The catered, outdoor bash was held in the back yard. Umbrellas shielded guests from the heat, while pink flower arrangements and candles accented the tables.

Guests brought gifts wrapped in girly pink and yellow colors.

Many of the adorable gifts – which included a Sleep Sheep toy mobile, Sleepy Safari stacking toys, organic hooded towels and a Kiddopotamus organic swaddle wrap – came straight from the Juvenile Shop in Sherman Oaks, Calif., where Pompeo is registered.

Earlier in the day, Ellen Pompeo and friend Nicole Richie – who also is pregnant right now, with her second child with rocker Joel Madden – shared some time together.

She has certainly not let her pregnancy slow her down.

When not busy filming episodes of Grey's Anatomy, she keeps in shape with workout sessions at the gym. In addition, she and Ivery are remodeling their new home.

If Ellen Pompeo is wearing stripes because they're thinning, well, she's right! We all know she's pregnant, of course, and she isn't trying to hide it, so it's probably just a top she likes.

She and Chris Ivery were spotted in L.A. over the weekend, looking cute as ever. Here's a picture of the spouses (who wed in November 2007) and parents-to-be out for a stroll ...

There's no news to report here, really. But we imagine you don't have a problem with occasional, adorable pictures of a pregnant Ellen Pompeo (or a shirtless Eric Dane).

On break from the Grey's Anatomy set, the expectant actress made a pit stop at a Hollywood gas station Thursday before revving up for work. How the show will handle Ellen's pregnancy is not entirely clear, but it looks like she's filming scenes for new episodes, at least for now ...

Probably from the neck up, but still. Here's the cute, pregnant Ellen ...

Not that you needed a reminder, but Ellen Pompeo is still very pregnant and beautiful. How Grey's Anatomy will handle Ellen's pregnancy is still somewhat unclear, but what's quite clear is that the actress who plays Meredith Grey makes an adorable pregnant person! See below ...

With two months to go until the premiere, Grey's Anatomy creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes is opening up about the transitional new season ahead, as well as how Ellen Pompeo's pregnancy fits into the mix going forward.

Here are excerpts from EW's spoiler Q&A today ...

Q: Hey, do you have any Grey's Anatomy news that doesn't involve George or Izzie?

A: Yes - the entire cast will be following T.R. Knight out the door. At least series creator Shonda Rhimes is braced for them to. Eventually. She got to thinking about it both because of Knight's departure and Ellen Pompeo's impending maternity leave.

“It's going to be tricky,” Rhimes says. “Ellen is incredibly optimistic and somehow thinks she will be back and ready to rock 'n' roll. [But] I have a child, so I know that that's not true. [So] we have a lovely story [on deck] that will take us into her maternity leave."

"And we have plans for some really interesting stand-alone episodes for [while she's gone]. But we're heading towards the future of the show and eventually, unless we are extremely lucky, everybody's going to go. That's what the end of Season 5 taught me."

"So we're looking at, How do we mess with that structure now while we have everybody and figure out ways in which, 'What would we do without Ellen? What would we do if we had an episode without Patrick Dempsey?' So Season 6 is important."

"A lot of shows don't make it because they don't know how to transition."

Can Rhimes envision Grey's Anatomy someday going on with Pompeo (and Mer) completely out of the picture?! "I don't know" she hedges. "I clearly want Meredith Grey on the show for as long as Ellen Pompeo wants to be on the show; that's not even a question."

"But I think that there's a possibility of [her leaving the series good at some point]. I haven't even thought that far. That's the one blank spot I have in my head. I can't really picture Mer Grey not appearing on the show. But [at least] we have Lexie Grey."

But would anyone watch Lexie Grey's Anatomy?

Q: Will Ellen Pompeo's pregnancy be written into Grey's Anatomy?

A: No. "Ellen is pregnant, but Meredith is not," Rhimes says. "Meredith wouldn't be pregnant."

Q: Now that Grey's Anatomy has finally started production, you got anything?

A: Look for Owen's PTSD to possibly flare up in the September 24 opener. I say this because a Grey's Anatomy mole says that Seattle Grace's go-to shrink, Amy Madigan, will appear in the second hour of the two-hour premiere.