NICOLE Kidman has described the experience of carrying her own child as "primal", saying she enjoys the unpredictable nature of pregnancy.The Oscar-winner also revealed that she fainted while on a horse on the set of the new Baz Luhrmann-directed epic Australia and said gardening at her home in Tennessee was helping her relax before the birth of her first biological child next month.
Kidman, who turns 41 today, made the revelations in a cover story for the new issue of American Vogue, which will hit news stands in the US next week.
"When I first saw the baby on the ultrasound, I started crying," she said.
"I didn't think I'd get to experience that in my lifetime.
"To feel life growing with you is something very, very special - and I'm going to embrace that completely. The whole experience is so primal. I like the unpredictable nature of it."
Kidman, who has two adopted children with ex-husband Tom Cruise, said she was overwhelmed with joy when she found out that she was pregnant in her home town of Sydney after production on Australia moved from the outback.
"To be given the blessing of a child at this stage of my life - you just say, 'Wow, this was meant to be'," she said.
"I'm glad I've learned to let things flow. I'm now so much more capable of receiving love and giving it in a far different way."
Kidman, who has continued doing rigorous exercise during her pregnancy, played down the criticism about her body, which has remained strikingly thin despite the actress being on the verge of giving birth.
"Just look at how I'm sitting here with my legs apart," she told Vogue. "This is the way you have to sit when you're pregnant."
Kidman, who posed for a shoot with world-renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz on the set of the upcoming Australia, said when she found out she was pregnant she instantly withdrew from her scheduled role in drama The Reader but continued to work 15-hour days on the set of Australia.
The willowy actress stars as a British aristocrat who bands with a handsome drover, played by Hugh Jackman, to drive 2000 head of cattle across the Australian outback as World War II is erupting.
Jackman said his long-time friend struggled in the early months of her pregnancy.
"Nicole had horrendous morning sickness," Jackman said.
"But she's a trouper - she put everything on the line every day."
Kidman, who is expected to give birth in either Los Angeles or Tennessee, said the film was the most challenging project she had ever worked on in her 25-year acting career.
"It's the roughest thing I ever had to go through," Kidman said.
"I was sitting on a horse once and I remember thinking, 'Gosh, this is what it feels like before you faint', and then I fainted.
"There was another time we flew in by helicopter to the salt flats it was like a moonscape - there was just nothing there and we got caught in a dust storm so bad we couldn't even see.
"Everybody lived out there for five days in these little silver tents. It was great. That's the adventure.
"That's why you make movies. It's the equivalent of The African Queen, where they were out in the wilderness and Katharine Hepburn was washing her hair with a bucket. We all want that experience."
Kidman said she had been enjoying simple pleasures at the rural property she shares with her country singer husband Keith Urban - near Nashville in Tennessee - during the past few weeks.
"We have a farm there and I have an organic vegetable garden," she said.
"This is a path I'd not taken before - my mum's always gardened, my sister gardens and I've now conformed to the Kidman women's hobby of gardening.
"There's a softness to the Tennessee landscape that I just love. It's very beautiful out there. We have deer and wild turkeys."
Pregnancy has not lessened Kidman's love of a good time.
The magazine revealed she recently tossed a party at her friend Naomi Watts's house and made a grand entrance carrying an enormous python.
The writer also said that when he arrived on the set of Australia to interview the leading lady, she spoke to him in a toffy English accent - keeping in character as Lady Sarah, the aristocrat who falls in love with the rough cattleman, played by Jackman.
Jackman told the magazine Kidman had persuaded him to take on the role before they'd even read the script.
"Nicole came over to my house for a Super Bowl party in 2011," Jackman says. "And she knew I was talking to Baz about doing the movie. She said, 'You must do it, you must do it', and I asked, 'have you read the script?' and she said, 'No, it's Baz. I don't need the script'."
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