This week, Kim Fields is wearing her hero hat proudly, and she already has an “attaboy” ready for her new baby once he arrives. The actress is scheduled to give birth to her second son (his name will be Quincy Xavier) on Tuesday. When she first revealed—at age 44—on The Real talk show that she and her husband Christopher Morgan were expecting their surprise baby, she was an instant champion to women over 40 everywhere.

And if that wasn’t enough, she never stopped working. On Christmas Day, her annual, scripted Christmas musical show, Holiday Love: The Rebirth, airs on TV One, co-starring David Mann, Debbi Morgan, Wess Morgan, Micah Stampley and Donnie McClurkin, with comedians Gary Owen and LaVar Walker.

EBONY: Was this pregnancy planned?

KIM FIELDS: It’s funny how God will just keep using you, and our motto around our family forever has been, “just let Him use you.” We didn’t try to be any sort of role model or poster child for pregnancy at the very start when we had our first son, Sebastian, when I was 38. But yes, we had been trying for the last couple of years, and like many people, we miscarried. And this was just something that happened. So that was a part of the testimony, a part of the journey. We tried again and here we are.

EBONY: Has this pregnancy been any different from when you had Sebastian?

KF: Sebastian was more of a turner, and we started to nickname him Flippy, whereas Quincy is definitively a kicker, a mover, a shaker. It’s been very easy again, like with Sebastian. I’ve been able to work and just be fine.

EBONY: What advice would you have for other women who find themselves in a similar situation as you and your husband?

KF: The norms have certainly changed as we take care of our bodies far more better than we used to. Lord knows I’m not the poster child for eating right and exercising, so I don’t want to give that impression at all! This is the same person who people have watched have a weight problem in her teens, so come on! I think first and foremost is trusting and believing in that what God has for you is for you whatever that may be, in terms of parenting and not to pressure yourself, or pressure Him for that matter.

EBONY: A generation of brown girls grew up watching you and being influenced by you. Does that feel surreal?

KF: Very much so. You know, no matter how hard I try and no matter how long it’s been that way, it’s still something that’s very surreal. It’s still something I can’t really wrap my mind around. It’s still something you can only attribute to God’s grace and mercy. I feel like that’s part of the gift, part of the ministry to me.

EBONY: You’ve been behind the camera lately, directing TV shows for Tyler Perry and BET. Why the shift?

KF: I started directing back in the early ’90s, just about right out of college. A lot of it is talking about “here’s this void and how I can fill it.” Sometimes that void is just financial. Hey, bills are due! I need to figure something out soon! Back in the ’90s Blair [Underwood], Malcolm[-Jamal Warner] and myself, we were part of this little group. We were blessed to have been acting and doing so well in the ’80s and even the ’90s. And yet still feeling like, “Hey, how come we’re not doing this? Where’s our Brat Pack or where’s our Breakfast Club or St. Elmo’s Fire?”

We all just started directing right around the same time—music videos or short films—because we learned so much on our sets. But also felt like we weren’t being cast, or we didn’t really see the types of projects that we wanted to see, even with the work that was going on for African-Americans.

EBONY: You have a new project coming later this month, The Rebirth.

KF: This is our fourth year doing a version of Holiday Love, our Christmas show. We’ve been blessed each year to have an all-star cast and a wonderful script and amazing music. Some original songs, some are new arrangement to favorite Christmas songs. We’ve kind of packaged that all together.

I had no idea our birth announcement would go as viral as it did and make such an impact quite that it did. My husband said, “Babe, we probably should do something that kind of follows up, especially since Quincy will be born right before Christmas.” And so we brought in our marvelous producing partner and writer, Blaine Edison.

We talked it over with Blaine and my husband Chris came up with the really funny idea of me having this nightmare that I was part of this reality show called Lifestyles of the Pregnant and Fabulous. So in the name of being tongue-in-cheek at the absurdity or certain elements of the reality shows, we did a thing where we had this producer who has put together a reality contest for pregnant women to have one of them deliver their baby on Christmas day, to be the baby Jesus in the nativity scene at an all-star Christmas concert that’s an 11 million-person pay-per-view event.

It culminates with this amazing all-star concert. We had just a ton of fun filming it this year, so many great stars and celebrities come and do this show and have a great time. Directing at seven-and-a-half months pregnant was lots of fun. Quincy was a wonderful baby and let mommy do what mommy needed to do.