Asked recently about Annette Bening's loss at the Oscars, her American Beauty costar Kevin Spacey waxed philosophic. "As I said to her," he replied, "in a little while she is going to be able to hold in her arms a rather more important object than an award."

She didn't have long to wait. On April 8, with husband Warren Beatty, 63, by her side, Bening, 41, gave birth to the couple's fourth child, a 9-lb. 2-oz. daughter who, three days later, hadn't been named. "Everyone is healthy and happy," says a spokeswoman. And—after weeks of public speculation about whether Bening might have the baby during the March 26 Academy Awards telecast—more than a little relieved. "She was happy to have the whole Oscar thing behind her," says actress pal Victoria Foyt, who threw Bening a baby shower March 28. "She was able to relax and settle into baby mode."

After the birth, Bening and Beatty took the new addition home, where they introduced her to her three older siblings, Kathlyn, 8, Ben, 5, and Isabel, 3, and, like any new parents, settled into a schedule of diaper changes and late-night feedings. "You'd be surprised at how normal this process is—even for actresses," says friend Edward Zwick, who directed Bening in 1998's The Siege. And while Foyt admits that "to have four kids, nowadays, is a lot if you're going to have any kind of career," she has no doubt Bening will manage. "Most people wouldn't handle it well," she says, "but Annette will handle it beautifully."