Five years after SHERRY STRINGFIELD left "ER" to get a life, she's back. And guess what? She got one. Currently married to LARRY JOSEPH, Sherry gave birth to daughter PHOEBE in March -- an event that made her decide that returning to the show as Susan Lewis was just what the doctor ordered.

 

ET: Why did you decide to come back and play a doctor with a baby on the way?

 

SHERRY STRINGFIELD: I had just had a baby, and I was very, very moved by the birth experience. Ever since I did "ER," I love doctors. I think it's a really amazing thing that people do. I told my husband, "I wish I had been an obstetrician. That is the coolest job; you deliver babies all day. It's a happy job." Then later on I was nursing the baby and I thought, "You know, that's what I'll do. I would love to play a doctor."

 

ET: So did you pick up the phone and call JOHN WELLS and say, "Hey, I'm ready to come back"?

 

SHERRY: Pretty much. I called my agent, and then I met with John a couple of days later, and he had just had a baby too, so we looked at pictures. I said, "I want to be back," and he was like, "We would like to have you back." It was like old times.

 

ET: So now that you've gone through the experience of having a baby, and have had this experience with doctors and nurses, what do you truly think of them, and what was this experience like for you?

 

SHERRY: They are amazing. I heard people say, especially when I was pregnant, "Oh, western medicine. They have done a horrible thing to women since birth is so westernized." I thought, "That's so crazy," because when I got the epidural I was really happy. I was in so much pain, and it went from the worst day of my life to the best day of my life. I think the doctors know you are in pain and want to stop it -- that is really their instinct. I think they are amazing, especially now with doctor's insurance. Private practice costs hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance.

 

ET: How is it being a new mom?

 

SHERRY: Oh, it's the best, the best.

 

ET: Did being a new mom affect your decision to get back to work?

 

SHERRY: One of the great things about being an actress is that it's a flexible profession. I can have her on the set, and I have a trailer that she can have a little playpen in. So I don't have issues like a lot of other women. They have to go to a definite place, they can't really leave for lunch, and their kid can't be there during the day, so they can't see them. I was okay with that because I'm not really going to be leaving her, so I'm lucky. I wouldn't have done it if I had to leave her all day.

 

ET: I think there are a couple of new moms on the show this year.

 

SHERRY: Yeah, MING-NA, ALEX KINGSTON and me.ET: In terms of medical jargon and all that stuff, is it like a comfortable pair of shoes for you to get back into?

 

SHERRY: I'm hoping that it's been lying dormant in the back of my brain and will just kick in.

 

ET: What has your character been doing while she was gone?

 

SHERRY: She has been in Arizona with her sister, and now her sister and her husband are moving to San Francisco. So she decides she is not going to follow them around all her life. She goes back to Chicago and is just trying to figure out what she wants to do. She knew to come home, and that is where I come back.