I think the Claudia thing is actually how they originally intended to write her off in season 6 - she was going to get rich off the oil wells and leave Denver in a limo as a rich woman. She wasn't going to be in season 7 ever though, because they were so pissed off with her becoming pregnant.
Why were they that upset with Pamela Bellwood being pregnant? Either hide it or write it into the show, as so many other series have done.
They could have her pregnant by Adam, the baby is stillborn, which sends Claudia into an abyss of madness and she spends the season plotting revenge on her "enemies."
Or, she could have had am affair with Brady while married to Adam. Brady would have previously reconciled with Dominique. Part of the season finale is that when the child is born it's obviously not Adam's. This will set up an entire season's worth of conflicts with Claudia, Adam, Brady Blake, Alexis and Dominique.
There. Two good ideas, as opposed to firing Pamela Bellwood,one of their best actresses, just for being pregnant. Now if my time machine starts working, I'll go back to the 1980's and, among other things, give Aaron Spelling my ideas