The Surrogacy Experience: Adjusting to New Life (Part 3 of 3)

Karen says that a nurse at the hospital asked whether Karen would pump her breast milk for the twins, but she declined "That just would have been too much, too personal. That's something I did for my children," explains Karen.

Because Karen Holmes is listed at Callie and Talen's mother on their birth certificates, the Russells had to legally become the twins' official parents.

It wasn't too difficult, but it was a bit strange, says Kelly. "Legally, it was simple, but it's kind of hard [emotionally] to have to adopt my own children," she says.

The emotions and sheer exhaustion of having new babies can sometimes strain relationships between friends. For Kelly Russell and Karen Holmes, however, the potential for even greater stress was possible, given the complicated nature of the twins' arrival.

But Karen says that the whole experience has brought the two families even closer together. "I know it could go the other way and things could get a little crazy," says Karen, but it hasn't. "I speak to Kelly almost everyday and see her three or four times a week. We were really good friends before all of this but now we are like a close-knit family."