<P> Novalee wakes up in hospital to find she is a media darling when while in the Walmart she gives birth . She is befriended by her nurse, Lexie Coop (Ashley Judd). After Lexie tells her the baby still doesn't have a name, Novalee declares she will name her daughter Americus . </P> <P> Lexie reveals to Novalee that she is a single woman with four children by three different men and tells an astonished Novalee that Lexie's children are all named after snack foods: Brownie, Praline, Cherry and Baby Ruth . </P> <P> While Novalee and Lexi are reading letters that have been sent supporting her, Novalee's mother, Mama Lil (Sally Field), who abandoned her as a child, sees her on television and appears at the hospital . Her mother, claiming the women can pool their money and get an apartment together, takes the $500 that Novalee received as a gift from the President of Walmart . Novalee also tells Mama Lil that Walmart has offered her a job in any of the Walmart stores across the country . </P> <P> Mama Lil, tucking Novalee's $500 into her bra, promises to pick up Novalee and Americus the next morning . Much to her dismay and disgust, realizing Mama Lil has abandoned her again, Novalee sits rejected at the hospital with no where to go . Sister Husband arrives and offers to let Novalee and the baby live with her . </P>

Who plays novalee mom in where the heart is