Silent Drowning

This picture was taken that day.  I threw away the dress because it upset me to look at it.

Today’s post is serious.  I wrote this note on facebook on March 20, 2011 when Isabella was 2 ½. 

Before you read what I wrote, just know this.  Most people think that drowning looks like what you see in the movies and on tv- kids raising there hands, yelling, gasping.  In fact, most child drownings are silent.  When a small child falls into a pool, lake, creek, you will not hear them.  It will just happen.  I am posting this because pool season is here.  This was the scariest thing that has ever happened to our family.  Isabella’s Guardian Angel is Christa’s Father in law, Tim.  He later said that he felt like God was telling him to go to the pool.  I believe in divine intervention. 

Here is the original post:

This is probably one of the hardest things I have ever written…I am very mortified and embarrassed about what happened, but decided that I needed to get over myself and write about it because I think it is something everyone can relate to and needs to be reminded of.  Saturday we were at Christa’s house- she was having a crawfish boil to show off her new kitchen and her in-laws were in town.  The weather was beautiful and we were all having a great time.  Isabella (2 ½) is such a mature girl.  All day long we kept telling her, no, she could not go in the pool with her bigger cousins.  The kids were everywhere that day.  She was upstairs, in the kids playhouse, everywhere…little Sophia was taking a nap and Dave and I were at the table eating crawfish…Dave walked in the house for a second and this is when the unthinkable happened…Christa’s most amazing father in law, Tim, walked to the pool and went straight to Isabella, who was floating in the middle…he was very calm and collected.  All I remember is this….I looked over and saw him quickly going over to the pool and pulling Isabella out…She was floating on her back…like an angel…that is what I remember….she was alive, but clearly something had happened….this is what we think happened….we think that she had something that fell into the pool, went to get it and fell in…we think that she was under for a short time (30 seconds?)…but managed to make herself float on her back…I don’t know if it is the swim lessons we gave her or just a strong willed little girl…she started coughing and was white as a ghost….she clearly had suffered some type of trauma…we deduct that she had to be under for less than a minute because of Dave’s timeline and remembering looking at the pool when he went inside….She was VERY tired for a while…but soon was her normal self…I was freaked out and had her sleep in our bed so I could check on her throughout the night….Today she is her normal, sassy self….

Why am I writing about this embarrassing situation….because it was the biggest wake up call for all of us…there were about 8-10 adults right there….we were eating crawfish 2 feet from the pool…I assumed she was with her big cousins….Christa was upset because she always thought she would hear a kid fall in the pool….I just think about all the news stories of adult parties where kids drown…and I think about how many news stories appear in Houston every summer about kids drowning--- of all socioeconomic levels….Dave and I have learned the biggest lesson ever…until our kids are MUCH older, one of us (or an adult) will have to be watching them whenever they are near water….

I just have to say that Christa’s father in law, Tim, is the hero in this situation…I can never do or say anything that will be enough to say how much I will forever be grateful for him….Please tell your friends this story so that this summer nobody has to even experience this…All day long Isabella was her normal self…and if any of you know her…she is the biggest ham…such personality….and to think we almost lost her for being so careless…