Like many engaged couples, Kelsey Poll and Tyler West took a walk down memory lane before their wedding to find old photos to be used in their wedding video. But when they cracked open Kelsey’s baby book, they got the shock of their lives. In the baby book was a photo of minutes-old baby Kelsey being cared for by a nurse. That in itself isn’t shocking at all…so here’s the crazy part: they both immediately recognized the nurse as Tyler West’s mother, Mary Ann! That’s right: Kelsey’s future mother-in-law was present at and even assisted with Kelsey’s birth!
Mary Ann West told Good Morning America she almost couldn’t believe it when she learned of the coincidence.
“We were shocked,” she said. “I was like, this is meant to be. What are the odds that these two kids would find each other and end up getting married and starting their own little family?”
After realizing she was at Kelsey’s birth, Mary Ann also realized that she totally remembered it, which is saying something since she was a labor and delivery nurse at HCA Healthcare’s Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, Utah for many years.
“Her delivery was a little bit complicated so that’s one reason why I remember it from 22 years ago. She had a complication with her placenta … it was very high risk because the cord attached to the baby and then the vessels were just in the amniotic membranes in the bag of water instead of attached with the cord, so it wasn’t protected,” she said. She also said that this is the only time she encountered this particular situation with a birth in her 29-year nursing career.
Mary Ann West also remembers encouraging Kelsey’s mom Stacy Poll about having three kids. Kelsey was Stacy’s third, and Mary Ann had recently given birth to her third, Tyler.
“I had just given birth to my third a year ago and was just letting her know, ‘You got this girl. It’s fine,'” West said she counseled Stacy Poll. “‘You can do this.’ Kind of giving her tips of how to help the older siblings adjust to the new baby, and it was a great experience.”
Little did she know when she gave that advice that twenty years later their third children would meet and fall in love! The two met when Tyler came into the bank where Kelsey was working in 2021. They chatted a bit, and he came back a few days later to ask for her number. The rest, of course, is history. The two married in May 2023.
Kelsey Poll West says knowing that her mom and mother-in-law shared a special moment at her birth is very meaningful.
“She was able to help my mom during the time that she was really scared, and that means a lot, because my mom means the world to me,” she said of Mary Ann. “And just to be able to have both of my moms there with me when I was brought into the world is something that not everyone gets to say, and that’s something that I’ll be forever grateful for, that I have that connection with her and that she has that connection with my mom, too.”
I absolutely love this coincidence and the family bond the Wests share. Mary Ann West says she now calls Kelsey’s mom Stacy Poll her best friend. I have to agree, this is a love that truly seems meant to be!
