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Jul 7, 2009

We all hear it, right? Never leave your kids alone when they are in the water. Never leave their side. Watch them at all times. Yet, somehow, this past weekend, my little boy almost drowned.

I debated back and forth on whether I should even post this. Mainly because I don't like thinking about it and would rather forget about it. But, then, if I forget about this past weekend, it could happen again, right?

We celebrated 4th of July, by going out on our friend's boat. There were quite a few people who we know that came out, too. We all parked the boats up next to the sand, where we hung out the entire afternoon. Kyle (who was wearing his life jacket the entire time) would go back and forth between staying with us and staying with friends in the water. Brandon came up to me and told me that Kyle had pooped in his swimming trunks. So, I took Kyle into the water to clean his shorts out. In order to do that, I had to take his life jacket off. We go towards the back of the boat, get him and his shorts cleaned out and come back to the sand. We walk back up to the sand and I was standing in the shallow part of the water and started talking to my friend. It wasn't even a minute (probably not even 30secs) before we heard something and my friend gasped. We both ran into the water, and she picked Kyle up who was grabbing at the boat trying to stay up. I guess, Kyle thought he had his life jacket on (I got distracted and forgot to put it back on) and was walking around in the water. He got to the part where it started to drop off and freaked out. We asked him a hundred times if he got any water in his nose or in his mouth, and he said no. We don't think he inhaled any water, since he said it just went in his ears. He calmed down right away and wanted to get right back in the water. It was a terrifying experience that I never want to relive again. Our afternoon could have ended worse if we had never heard him gasping for breath.

I know it's summer and our kids are constantly in the water. Please learn from my mistake and never take your eyes off of your children. I think even if a child can swim, if they are in water that has waves or any type of current..they need a life jacket on.

I am so thankful that the Lord watches over my kids at all times!

6 comments:

jenn said...

How scary! I'm glad he is okay. And you're so right, God is always watching over them. That's something to be thankful for.

More Than Words said...

Laura!! That makes me want to cry because that almost happened to my 2nd son when he was one year old. Except we were all at my sisters swimming. I want to share this with you so that way you know you're not the only one. Don't feel guilty because it's not like you left him on his own. Things like this do happen that fast!! Anyway, it was me, my mom and my sister, and at the time I only had three kids. This was back in 2001 (and my sister had two boys). Well, we all took a break from swimming to eat lunch and all of a sudden my 4 year old nephew starts pointing at the pool. I IMMEDIATELY knew why he was pointing and girl, I must have sprinted to the pool! Oh my gosh...it was totally the Lord who saved my son because he was floating on his back!!!!!!!!! He didn't even know how to swim! He had no life jacket on either!!! Laura..I was soooooooooo scared and soooo thankful at the same time! So many emotions go on in that second!! You can't help but think of the "what if's." But, I know that God was totally looking out and holding my son in that water!!!!!!!!!!

Kristin said...

Oh my, I am so glad that he was okay! I'm with Alicia....don't feel guilty because it literally only takes a second. Something similar happened to me. We had one of those 4 ft deep above ground pools for the girls one year. I was pregnant with Lily and Kaylee was almost 3. I had put her in this swimsuit that had a floaty all around the middle. Madison was about 5. I was cleaning the pool with the skimmer and I turned around to get a leaf or something and Madison goes "Mommy look at Kaylee" and she was laughing. I turned around and Kaylee was face down in the water and the floaty on the swimsuit was preventing her from uprighting herself! I immediately grabbed her and she was fine, but I was literally a foot away from her when it happened and had turned around for only one second!

So, it can just happen so fast. Like you said, we just have to be so thankful that God watches over them every second!

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet said...

Praise God he was ok! :D It is easy for things to happen quickly. I have had an incident with kaycee in the water back when she was about 7 before we came to Misawa. It was scary! Needless to say, they've both had swimming lessons now. To be on the safe side, we keep their life jackets on.

Arlene said...

I'm so glad he is okay and that the Lord allowed you all to catch him in plenty of time! *hugs*

Daphine said...

This post brought tears to my eyes. I am so glad that everything turned out okay! The Lord was definitely watching out for your precious little boy friend! Wow! Thanks for sharing!

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