When Jillian Michaels set out to adopt a child, she knew she was in for a long journey that would be painful at times. But witnessing her partner Heidi Rhoades deliver their son, Phoenix, earlier this month was unbearable.

“The whole thing about Phoenix being born was hard,” says Michaels, 38, who opens up about her new family in the latest issue of PEOPLE.

Initially, Rhoades had planned on natural childbirth. But after 27 hours of labor, doctors informed the petite mom-to-be that they would have to deliver the baby via cesarean section. A helpless Michaels could only stand by and offer support.

“Watching her was awful,” Michaels says. “You can’t relieve the person. You can’t do it for them. You just have to stand there and watch.”

But soon after the 9 lb., 22-inch baby boy was delivered in the wee hours of May 3, Michaels sprang into action.

“Because I had the c-section, she had to jump in and do everything with Phoenix,” Rhoades, 31, tells PEOPLE. “She’s an amazing mom.”

Four days after Phoenix’s arrival, Michaels left on a flight to Haiti to bring home her daughter Lukensia.

“We were both sobbing hysterically,” says Michaels, who will legally adopt Phoenix, while Rhoades will legally adopt Lu. “Our son was only four days old, but our daughter needed to come home.”

For details on Michaels’s new life as a mom and to see more images from our exclusive family photo shoot, pick up the June 4 issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

– Monica Rizzo

Jillian Michaels knows what it takes to get results in the gym. But she had no idea what was in store for her when she began the arduous task of trying to adopt a child two years ago.

The former Biggest Loser trainer — who brought 2-year-old daughter Lukensia home from Haiti just days after partner Heidi Rhoades delivered son Phoenix on May 3 — says despite feeling “despondent” at times throughout the process, she had hope that things would work out.

Michaels initially applied for adoption in 2010 through the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After waiting more than a year for a referral, the trainer learned that some of her paperwork was about to expire. If Michaels wanted to continue with the process, she would have to reapply.

It was then that she learned Haiti had children up for adoption.

“Adoption is a calling,” Michaels, 38, tells PEOPLE. “There is something in you that can’t be denied. You just know in the deepest part of your being that you are meant to find this little soul and guide them through life.”

As a teenager Michaels was diagnosed with endometriosis, a medical condition where tissue that normally grows inside the uterine walls instead grows outside the uterus. It often affects fertility but, she says, “at that time in my life, I didn’t even think I would want kids as an adult.”

It wasn’t until she was in her mid-30s that she “felt the calling to adopt. The adoption process was not a simple or easy one,” she explains. “There were moments where I was starting to think it was not going to work out.”

But Michaels says the wait was all worth it.

“That moment of getting Lu out of Haiti and the wheels of the plane touching down in New York … she was an American citizen after two years,” Michaels recalls, tears welling in her eyes. “It was a heavy moment.”

For details on Michaels’s new life as a mom and to see more images from our exclusive family photo shoot, pick up the June 4 issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

– Monica Rizzo

As a trainer on The Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels was known for dishing out tough love to contestants.

But these days, she’s doling out tickles and hugs to her 2-year-old daughter, Lukensia – whom she recently brought home from Haiti after a lengthy adoption process — and the newborn son, Phoenix, that partner Heidi Rhoades gave birth to on May 3 in Los Angeles.

“We’re swimming in babies over here,” Michaels, 38, gleefully tells PEOPLE in its latest issue.

In an exclusive at-home interview and photo shoot, she discusses the two-year journey that led her to her daughter and reveals an incredible twist of fate: Rhoades, 31, delivered their son the same week Michaels finally brought their daughter home.

The instant family has made for long days and nights for Michaels. But she insists she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I don’t even answer email. I don’t have time to care about anything else,” she notes. “I want to be really present and enjoy all the nuances of their growth and development. I don’t want to rush any of it.”

For details on Michaels’s new life as a mom and to see more images from our exclusive family photo shoot, pick up the June 4 issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

– Monica Rizzo

Age may just be a number, but for Jennifer Connelly it’s been the secret to her family’s success.

“I’ve got a massive family now. It’s really unbelievable. They are all such extraordinary kids and they’re great together,” the actress, 41, tells Anderson in an interview airing Tuesday.

“They never fight, they look after each other. They are loving.”

Connelly, who is mom to sons Kai, 14, and Stellan, 8, and daughter Agnes Lark, 11 months, attributes the brood’s bliss to her and husband Paul Bettany‘s ability to spread the love.

“I am just blessed they are such great, really wonderful kids,” she raves. “Maybe it has something to do with the huge age gap between them, there is no competition and they all have so much attention and focus.”

However, despite the synchronization among the siblings, Connelly admits she won’t be expanding their family any further.

“I think we should call it quits,” she says. “It’s like trying to move an army getting out of the house and we go everywhere together, so it’s a lot of bodies to move.”

– Anya Leon

She only recently became an aunt, but Kelly Osbourne is just about ready for another title: mom.

“I’ve got baby fever after I saw [her],” Osbourne says on Wednesday’s Anderson, discussing the first time she saw her 2-week-old niece. (Her brother Jack welcomed a daughter, Pearl Clementine, on April 24.)

She adds: “I’d be the best mum ever. I would. I’ve got great training from my mum.”

Her epiphany?

“I have to tell you, I never believed in love at first sight,” the Fashion Police co-host, 27, tells Anderson Cooper. “And then when I saw how perfect and beautiful this baby was and is, I lost it. I cried more than anyone else.”

For now, she’s busy being Aunt Kelly for baby Pearl, who made her debut on the cover of HELLO! with mom Lisa Stelly, dad Jack and grandma Sharon (wife of rocker Ozzy Osbourne).

“I’m under strict instruction not to spoil her,” she says, “but I don’t think that’s going to stick.”

– Alison Schwartz

Robert Downey, Jr. may be starring as Iron Man in The Avengers, but the most important role for him right now is clearly that of proud father.

Downey and his producer wife, Susan, welcomed son Exton Elias in February, and the actor couldn’t resist showing off pictures of the little guy during a Thursday appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

“I have to exercise just a little restraint,” Downey jokingly demurred when Leno initially asked him to debut the photos, before adding: “I mean, if you want me to, I will.”

“He’s so darn cute, isn’t he?” Downey mused over a picture of the 3-month-old in a hoodie and cap, before speculating that he’d get in trouble with his wife.

Explaining the origins of his son’s name, the actor revealed that he and Susan drew from family history when choosing it.

“My wife’s great-uncle Joe was kind of eccentric — when he was in fourth grade, he realized he didn’t have a middle name, so he changed his name to J. Exton,” Downey notes.

Courtesy Robert Downey, Jr./Inset Splash News Online

–Liz Raftery

This pregnancy is a wrap!

A few weeks before daughter Maxwell Drew‘s big debut, Jessica Simpson and her fiancé Eric Johnson celebrated pending parenthood with a Charlotte’s Web-themed baby shower.

Under pretty pink Chinese lanterns and surrounded by (faux!) farmyard friends, the mom-to-be mingled with her guests including sister Ashlee Simpson, nephew Bronx, good pal Cacee Cobb and Jessica Alba along with daughter Haven and she posed for pictures with her many presents.

In between snacking on the food bar’s mini appetizers, scooping Sweet Lucie‘s organic ice cream, and sipping on pink lemonade filled mason jars (complete with retro styled striped straws!), attendees were also treated to diaper pin necklaces and a round at the knitting station.

And to top off the shabby chic celebration, Simpson and Johnson — under a lit up letter M — excitedly opened their gifts, which included a pint-size pair of pink cowboy boots and a blinged out binky.

Check out the video below and our gallery of exclusive photos here.

RELATED GALLERIES: Jessica Simpson’s Glam & Girlie Maternity Style; Oh Mama! Jessica Simpson’s Most Outrageous Pregnancy Quotes; Famous Maxwells in History

Backstreet baby!

A.J. McLean and his wife, Rochelle, announced via YouTube Sunday that they are expecting their first child in November.

“I just wanted to say thank you guys for all your love and support. We recently got married — I was the most recent Backstreet Boy to take the plunge,” the singer, 34, says with his wife by his side.

“Because we love you all so much, we wanted to share with you — for the first time — something very special. We’re having a baby!”

McLean and Karidis were wed Dec. 17, 2011 in Beverly Hills.

The couple moved from Hollywood to the Valley earlier in the year so that they’d have space to raise a family, although McLean said at the time that “I think we’ll be married for about three years before we have kids.”

Although they’ll be hearing the pitter-patter of little feet a bit earlier than expected, “Words cannot express how I feel — this is something I have always dreamed about my whole life. I’ve found my dream girl and this is the greatest gift of all,” McLean said in a statement.

“I am the happiest and healthiest I have ever been. We are anxious, nervous, excited, happy, all emotions one can feel. Life is goooood! We are due sometime in November.”

– Sarah Michaud

“Everyone was right all these years, saying, ‘Hugh, why don’t you have some children? It changes your life,’ ” the actor, 51, and dad to 6-month-old daughter Tabitha, says in an interview Friday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“Now that I have [a child], it is life changing,” he says. “I recommend it. Get some!”

Warner Brothers

Tabitha’s mother is Grant’s ex Tinglan Hong, who is Chinese. In Friday’s interview, Grant reveals that one of Tabitha’s other names is Jīng Xǐ, which, he explains, has something to do with how she was conceived.

“I can’t pretend it wasn’t a little bit of a surprise,” Grant, who stars in the new film Pirates! Band of Misfits, says. “But it’s a very nice surprise. In fact, the baby’s name in Chinese, because the mother is Chinese, means ‘Happy Surprise.’”

– Tim Nudd

The feeling of becoming a grandmother is a complicated one to express. Just ask Sharon Osbourne, whose son Jack welcomed his first child, daughter Pearl, with fiancée Lisa Stelly on Tuesday.

“It’s all overwhelming,” Sharon told PEOPLE on Wednesday.

“But in a good way — in a really positive, lovely way. It’s just amazing.”

With Pearl less than 48 hours old, Sharon’s already ready for more little ones she can spoil.

“I’ve got two more girls to marry off,” she says. “There will be more grandkids!”

Although Sharon’s been the most vocal of her family members when it comes to speaking publicly about the new addition to the family, she says the strongest words came from her husband Ozzy.

“[He told Jack,] this is a love that is so special,” Sharon explains. “He said, ‘You will never experience a love like this, other than a father and a daughter. It’s a very, very special love.’”

Sharon’s been surrounded by baby talk all week — in her personal life and in her professional life.

She joined her fellow hosts on The Talk to throw a million dollar baby shower for an audience of 250 expectant moms from all over the country, airing Friday.

In between giving each member everything from upscale strollers to clothing gift certificates, to fine jewelry, Grandma O — as they call her on the show — took a moment to gush about her granddaughter.

“[Pearl's] healthy and gorgeous,” Sharon said during the episode. “It’s like a new life. There’s nothing like it, nothing like to witness it. It’s just an amazing event.”

The mom of three also discussed her soon-to-be daughter-in-law Lisa allowing her into the room during delivery — an experience she will not soon forget.

“You go through every emotion,” she says. “You go through joy and you thank God that everybody is healthy and happy. You realize how lucky you are. It’s like life has gone full cycle in our family.”

– Dahvi Shira