Born to be together: Couple born the same day in the same hospital room meet 25 years later and fall in love

Sep 28, 2008 (The Decatur Daily - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- NWS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- It must have been that charisma from the hospital nursery.

On Feb. 15, 1983, two moms gave birth and then shared a room at Cullman Regional Medical Center.

In the nursery, a baby girl in a pink cap was in a bassinet next to a big baby boy, with proud parents making photos through the glass window and later in their hospital room.

Twenty-five years later, after an accidental meeting, the same proud parents and the same girl and boy posed for photos again -- this time in wedding attire Sept. 13.

On that fateful day in 1983, Pam and Ronnie Scott of Good Hope were celebrating the safe arrival of their second child, daughter Kellie Marie Scott, when another new mom was rolled into the semi-private room.

Kellie, born at 5:03 a.m., weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce. The nurses put her in a pink toboggan cap to keep her warm.

Jerri and Junior Hyatt of Hartselle greeted Bradley Hoyt Hyatt, the first of their two sons, at 1:15 p.m. that day. A big, strong baby, he weighed 10 pounds, 7 ounces, overshadowing the others in the nursery, his mom recalled.

Kellie's mom remembers her roommate's arrival and talking with her. "She told me it was her first baby, and I asked how much he weighed. When she told me 10 pounds, 7 ounces, I asked, 'Really?' "

"He was so big, and Kellie Marie was so little," said Jerri. Four pounds made a big difference, and they noted it each time they had the babies in the room with them.

"I remember saying how nice it would be if they could grow up together," Jerri recalled.

Through the years, each mom occasionally wondered what had become of the family she had met in the hospital, but they didn't stay in touch. Jerri remembered the baby girl was named Kellie Marie, but she couldn't remember the family's last name.

Brad remembers his mom talking about the other baby from the time he became a teen and got interested in girls.

One January day while he was at his job as a utility operator at Copeland Corp. in Hartselle, Jerri called her son's cell phone. "I said, Mom, I'm at work and I can't talk," and she said, 'Go outside,' so I did," Brad recalled.

"I met her!" his mom said.

"Met who?" he asked.

"The baby," she said.

"What baby?" he asked.

"The baby in the room with us, and she's the most beautiful girl," she said.

Here's how the chance meeting occurred: Jerri handles computers and clerical work for Volunteers of America in Hartselle, an office with about 20 people overseeing programs for the mentally challenged.

Last fall Kellie decided to use her sociology degree as service coordinator for Volunteers of America, working out of the Hartselle office but living in Cullman.

Jerri started making a birthday list so office personnel could celebrate together and asked Kellie for her birthday. "She said Feb. 15, 1983, and I said that's my son's birthday, too, and he'll be 25," Jerri recalled.

Kellie said she would be 25, too.

Jerri said her son was born at Cullman Regional Medical Center, and Kellie said she was, too.

"It finally dawned on me," said Jerri. She asked, "Are you Kellie Marie? Because I know the woman in my room named her baby that."

Kellie asked her, "Did you have that big baby?"

"I said yes, and he's single," Jerri recalled.

Jerri said she tried to back off, "because I didn't want Kellie to think of me as that crazy lady that wanted her to date her son" (even though she did).

"They did it on their own," Jerri said, after she helped set up an initial lunch meeting between the two Jan. 17.

Romance sparks

It seemed painstakingly slow in the beginning, said Kellie, and then lightning fast.

"He sent me a few messages on the Internet, and then finally asked me out on MySpace. We went on our first date in March," she said.

Jerri remembers that, "because after the date, I got about 15 text messages from my son, saying 'Mom, she's the one.' "

After a couple of dates, they went to dinner with both sets of parents so they could renew acquaintances.

Shortly after that, the couple got engaged April 27 on the General Jackson Showboat in Nashville, and they had a wedding to plan.

Similarities and differences

"Once we started dating, we didn't want to be apart," Kellie said. "I think it had something to do with us having the same (zodiac) sign and the same birthday.

"We have the same personality and find the same things humorous. We both are really kind of laid-back, and we hit it off well."

One astrology service says that compatibility is far more complicated than looking at the horoscope and is determined by not only the date, but also the time of day and place you were born. Those born under the sign of Aquarius like Brad and Kellie are said to be friendly, sociable, talkative, interesting, humanitarian, intellectual and loyal.

Farm girl and city boy

However, Kellie grew up on a farm while Brad was raised in the city. She likes country music and he prefers rock 'n' roll, and she surprised him with a guitar-shaped groom's cake.

Daisies are her favorite flower, but Brad didn't know that when he sent her an arrangement with daisies. They were in abundance at their wedding.

Kellie's mom pointed out to her that they hadn't been dating very long.

"(I told her) I don't need to, because I think it's a God thing," Kellie said.

"But they laugh together, and I think that's important," said her mom.

Brad's mom agreed. "It's pretty neat the way it all worked out. They were the two prettiest babies in the nursery."

Jerri said she tried to get the couple to marry on their shared birthday, but Kellie didn't want to risk getting just one gift for birthday and anniversary in years to come. So they scheduled a Sept. 13 outdoor ceremony at 6 p.m. at The Wedding Chapel on the Mountain in Huntsville.

There are many reasons the couple might have missed ever meeting each other. Brad was married before. Kellie was deployed to Kuwait from September 2006 to September 2007 and then nearly went back to Birmingham to get a master's degree instead of going to work in the office with his mother.

A 2001 graduate of Good Hope High School, she joined the Army her senior year. Then at The University of Alabama in Birmingham, she got into ROTC. She has been in the Army Reserves since 2001 with the Fourth Brigade of the 75th Division in Birmingham, a training division. She followed the example of her dad, who has been in the Army and Reserves and is retired from the National Guard.

Recently the Army made her an offer she found hard to turn down. The first lieutenant has returned for a one-year mobilization with her training unit but expects to remain in Birmingham, setting up and evaluating exercises for units about to deploy.

Starting a new life

Brad recently left Copeland to look for a job in Birmingham, where they moved after returning Monday from their wedding trip to Ireland.

"I'm an Army wife now," said Brad, "and I'm starting to understand that TV show, 'Army Wives.' I even have a military ID and everything."

One of the last things they packed was the wedding album his aunt, Sherry Anders, made for them.

On the photo page showing them in their cribs at the hospital, Anders scrapbooked in the words, "I'm gonna marry that boy someday" and "Born to be together."

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