This isn't something I'm proud of or even want to tell, but it is something that may be a good reminder for us. It's opened my eyes.
We had a party at the house for Memorial Day. Id say probably 20 adults. 10 kids. We got he kids out of the pool to eat, took floaties off ( I'm not even sure why we always do that...because they CAN eat with floaties on their arms) a few moms including myself went inside-dads were gettin kids around and Cooper's little buddy Gibson (who is TWO will be three in July) decided to jump back into the deep end. Alone. His brave big brother who is five thought well enough to hand him a noodle and he was holding onto it trying to get up. Another mom who was ten feet away didn't notice until she heard Cohen yell "can someone help my brother please" and she ran and pulled him out. She said it was awful scary.
I walked outside to deliver food and saw him sitting with his daddy, pretty lethargic-not super responsive. It was quickly decided he needed the ER. The ran him to the hospital. They quickly gave him oxygen and albuterol breathing treatments to open up his lungs. His mama said that at one point his oxygen was down to 88...which isn't good. Us girls made sure the kiddos were safe in the house and went to be with our friend at the ER. Poor little fella kept wanting to go to sleep because he was exhausted and we kept waking him up. I gave him my phone to watch a cartoon to keep him awake and he quickly puked on it. The doctor said he swallowed a ton of air so this was okay.
They said they wanted to send him to Wichita to the trauma center to be observed all night. We kept his big (brave) brother and I kept reassuring him he would be just fine and that he did a great thing to give him the noodle. We prayed and prayed. And prayed some more. (It was neat for me as a mama to watch my little guy watch Cohen get on his knees and pray for his brother. Cooper soon followed his lead)
After I got the boys settled in watching a movie, I went outside to help pick up the patio from the party. I may have started crying when it came time to grab these little crocs--->
Had things been a second longer or different these little guys would have ...well it's obvious what would have happened. It was such a reminder on how quickly things can happen. I'm even "Mrs safety" when it comes to the pool-I made Kregg invest in a new pool cover when we moved in so it could be covered all the time-I made Kregg put up new gates w clip latches on each side of the door. I usually am the mom yelling at every kid to stop running and be careful. (They even call me Jeanie Barber-I guess she was the old swim instructor that was strict with pool rules. ) THIS stuff can happen to anyone and I had heard that a thousand times-but I think i kind of just blew it off. I KNEW it but didn't realize HOW quickly it could. I assumed Thais things happened when kids snuck outside and got in the pool fence without mom seeing-not with us standing there. It truly can happen in a second -with twenty other adults around.
I told Kregg when we went to bed and my mind was racing that I just wanted to close the pool and fill it in with sand and he said that's not the solution. We have to just be better about it. Place more rules and enforce them. I dont ever want something like that to happen again-anywhere- but especially at my home...a place we try to keep safe.
I just keep saying that they are great parents. We try to be great parents. There were tons of great parents around. It can happen to anyone.
Pretty thankful for these brothers and their love for each other. And even more thankful for God taking care of them in that scary time.
