Disney World - Swimming

While at Disney World we took Kimmie swimming three times. She loved it!

The first time we took Kimmie swimming, I went in with her. She likes to wear a float vest. We like her to wear it, too. It's nice to have that little bit of extra security. However, we still need to be in the pool with her, and the vest is not foolproof.

Kimmie was wound up pretty good that first day we swam. I was adjusting her float vest, and she had that mischievous glint in her eye. She was laughing, and pushing and wrestling trying to get away from me. Of course, she's wet, I'm wet, and eventually she slipped out of my hands. While still laughing she splashed face down in the water. I immediately grabbed and yanked her out of the water. I caught Dad's eye and he rushed over. Kimmie was coughing and sputtering. I lifted her up to Dad who raised her up to sit on the side of the pool.

I have to compliment Disney on their lifeguards. They are very attentive. One was at our side before we could blink. He was offering to bring over oxygen for Kimmie, then he offered to call EMS. He assured us that there is no charge for an EMS call. Disney pays for it all.

Kimmie was coughing, but she was also breathing well and her color was fine. We assured him that Kimmie was ok, she did not need oxygen nor did she need EMS. He was very persistent telling us that she could be dry-drowning. By this time Kimmie was breathing normally in between coughs and signing "swim more, swim more." The lifeguard offered to call EMS three times. We finally convinced him that she was fine. Kimmie was fine, if she hadn't been she wouldn't have wanted to "swim more."

We did feel safe while we were swimming. The lifeguards were very well trained and patrolled the perimeter of the pool continuously.

The last time we took her swimming was on our last day at Disney World. We had finished at the parks. Kimmie was so tired by then that she just wrapped her arms and legs around me and hung on like a monkey. I told her she was a monkey, but she said, "No." I walked and bounced around in the water with her wrapped around my neck. After a while her eyes were glassy and I thought she was almost asleep. I told her she was a hippopotamus sleeping in the water. She said, "No."

Swimming was a nice break from the heat, but we could have done without the excitement of an almost EMS call.

--Mom