Water Babies - or NOT...

It has come to my attention that I was a negligent mother in yet another area of child rearing.  Will the stories never end?  The following are true stories about the youngest three children and swimming pools.  By the mercy of God I can boast of raising seven children safely in a desert, with only the following incidents involving water during quick trips to the States.

When Bekah was only six weeks old, we made our way up to the U.S. for one of our infamous mini-furloughs.  Our first stop was at a bungalow along the Costa Esmeralda (in Vera Cruz), where we introduced our little baby to the beach.  The owner of the bungalow was swimming in the pool with us, trying to cool off after a hot day, when she asked if she might hold Bekah.

All seven of us, plus dog, summer 1995

Thinking that was an innocent request, I handed the baby over to her.   I had no sooner turned my back when I heard a splash!  The woman had tossed Bekah up in the air and let her sink down in the water.  Somewhere she had heard that newborns can swim.  Sure enough, the baby started flailing her arms by reflex, and was able to bring herself up to the surface of the water, tilt her head back, and get a breath of air.  In fact, she loved it.

While I was recovering from my near heart attack, Jim was fascinated with this phenomenon, and took Bekah for some further experiments.  Before long, he was blowing in her face (to cause her to hold her breath), and then jumping into the deep end, holding her.  She never cried, but seemed to enjoy the thrill.  We have this on video camera as proof.

Jim and all six kids summer 1997, Costa Esmeralda

Two years later, we were passing through Costa Esmeralda again, for yet another summer mini-furlough.  We stayed at the same bungalow, but this time Jonny was the baby.  He wasn't six weeks old, though.  He was five months old.  Jonny was never fond of water or bath times, so I kept a careful eye on him around the pool, always assigning one of the boys to hold him if Jim and I were busy.  Well, it happens that one of the boys let the very same woman, the owner of the bungalows, hold Jonny.

I was enjoying my leisurely swim when the woman frantically handed me my baby, who was not breathing, and informed me that he could not swim!  What?  "Of course he can't swim," I told her.  "He's just a baby!"  "But your other baby could swim...." she said in her defense.  For heaven's sake.  It was one of those nightmarish moments where I wished people in Mexico weren't quite so friendly with my babies.

Eventually Jonny got over his fright, coughed up the water, and breathed again, but we passed by the Costa Esmeralda when we traveled to the U.S. two years later with Debbie as our newest baby.

Jim and Debbie 1999

That year Jim himself was the culprit.  Remembering how Bekah used to love to "swim" as a baby, totally forgetting how Jonny hated to "swim" as a baby, he decided to teach Debbie the same trick of going under water.  By then she was eight months old, and able to enjoy splashing around in the water in her Daddy's arms.  She even liked going underwater with him, and would come up laughing... until the time she didn't.

I'll never forget.  We were in Georgia, visiting a friend we had met in linguistics school.  She lived in a neighborhood near Atlanta that was almost completely populated by Vietnamese immigrants, and was working on a Bible translation for them.  One afternoon she took us to the local swimming pool, where we caused quite a stir.  In fact the whole pool had to be shut down because "someone's" baby threw up in the water.

What actually happened was that Jim and Debbie were horsing around, and had jumped in the water together, but instead of Debbie coming up laughing like she usually did, she started coughing, and spewed out some water.  In the water was one microscopic piece of watermelon she had just eaten.  With that the life guard blew the whistle, cleared the pool, and announced that it would be closed for the rest of the day.  Oh, my!  Were we ever embarrassed.  The only part of the pool that remained open was the little kiddie part with the water spouts and slides. Below is an actual photo from the scene of the crime.

Notice the big empty pool

Jonny and Debbie, age 4 and 2, wearing life vests 2001

Eventually I learned about safety.  Can my bad mother award be revoked?