Beware the Pool

We had such a fun afternoon today!   We went over to my friend Jenn's house right after Noah woke up at 3pm. Noah had such a fun time with her 4 year old daughter Ava. She was sooo good with him. When Noah was younger Ava was not very interested in him, but she was just doting on him and taking him all over the house, bringing him new toys to play with... it was adorable.

We swam in the pool for awhile. Noah ended up having a LOT of fun. He has never liked being in a pool before, unless he's on the steps splashing or in a kiddie pool.  However, I want my kid to like swimming, so I always bring him in anyway. This pool was the perfect height, because in the middle of the pool it was only up to my shoulders. So it was really the perfect height to walk around comfortably and still be immersed in the water. Once Noah got used to the temperature of water, he was so happy, splashing and kicking and wriggling his body with excitement, while laughing the whole time.  I wish I could have gotten a video.

After we were basically done swimming Jenn was sitting by the side of the pool holding sleeping Ethan (10 months old), and Ava and Noah were sitting on the side of the pool splashing their feet in the water. I was standing in the pool next to Noah, but talking to Jenn.   Suddenly she said "OH NO!!! GET NOAH!! HE'S IN THE POOL!!!" I looked to my left and Noah was floating about a foot under the water. He had literally just slipped in.  He was right next to me, but I didn't even notice because they were doing all that splashing!   Luckily Jenn was actually looking at the kids and told me as soon as it happened.   Noah was underwater for a maximum of 4 or 5 seconds.  Not too long, but still freaky

When he came up he was upset, but he didn't really even cry. He more complained, and seemed a little bit scared.   He asked to nurse right away (a comfort thing), so we did, and then he was totally fine.   I took him right back in the pool because I didn't want him to be terrified of the pool, and he was completely unaffected by it all.

I should mention that Noah HATES putting his face in water or when he gets water running down his face at all. So I really thought he would scream!  Crazy.


You know that surge of adrenaline you get when your kid is in danger, and your heart falls into your stomach??

I didn't get that. I was like "Holy shit!" (in my head, not out loud), and just picked him up and checked him out to make sure he was okay and started breathing again (he had kind of a hard time starting up breathing again for a couple seconds, but he didn't even cough or choke or anything, so he must have held his breath the whole time). My heart was pounding harder, but I didn't have that intense feeling that I usually get when Noah is in danger.

I was talking to my mom about how I didn't get that feeling and how I thought that was kind of weird.  But she kind of clarified it for me.  I grew up around a lot of water.  I was always around pools and on docks, and I saw little kids falling into the water off the docks fairly frequently (I also hear the stories fairly frequently).  And my parents/aunts/uncles would just reach in and pull the kid out. So it is just an idea that I am used to, I guess.  Sometimes kids fall into water when their parents are there, and you just pull them out again.  No big deal.

Plus I knew that Jenn told me that it happened right when it happened. If I had randomly looked and seen Noah floating under the water I would have had a friggin heart attack, because it would have been unknown. Like, was he dead? How long had he been down there??? But because Jenn told me right when it happened, I knew Noah had just slipped under, and it wasn't really a "near drowning" experience. So I didn't have that panic feeling. I just knew he was okay, because he was only under for seconds.
Anyway, that was our excitement for the day!  You can bet that I will be keeping an even closer eye on Noah when we're around pools from now on.  It's not like I was ever negligent, but now that I have actually had the experience of being right next to my kid and not even realizing he had slipped into the water, it makes me much more aware of how accidental drownings can happen, even when there are tons of adults around.