This week I came across this story on Instagram and it made me tear up big! I wanted to remember it and so copied her post here. It is an experience by a mom of six kids: Christi Anne Towner (six.in.five) about her daughter Brooklyn.
A few weeks ago my family went to St George UT for the last few days of spring break to escape the rain where we lived. We were leaving the pool on Saturday morning to pack up our hotel room, and I was holding my sleeping baby talking with my husband. Suddenly we realized our sweet little three-year-old Brooklyn was missing.
My husband went in one direction, I in the other, and my heart stopped as I saw the shadowy silhouette and the neon back of my daughters swimming suit on the bottom of the pool. I screamed out her name, hastily put my baby down, and jumped in the pool. I scooped up the lifeless, bloated, blue body of my little baby girl. Her eyes were open and glassy. She didn't look anything like my little Brookie. I put her on the side of the pool, and scrambled out, and my husband and I stood there panicked.
Suddenly an angel, a woman who was there that day, pushed my husband out of the way and said, “I’ve got this.” She began to resuscitate my sweet little girl. I knelt next to my daughter and began to beg God for her life. I screamed for my husband to give her a priesthood blessing, which he did. I kept praying and sobbing and my heart was devastated every time a gurgle of water came out and she still did not breathe. There was a man standing in the pool, who could not find a pulse in the wrist of my sweet Brooklyn. I suddenly felt like my little Brooklyn was watching us and I looked up and begged for her come to come back to us. After several terrible, painful, anguishing minutes my sweet daughter began to move her eyes, and then she began to whimper and cry through the water still coming out of her. There has never been a more beautiful sound to my ears. The paramedics arrived, and I went with her to the ER where she was given oxygen, and eventually weaned off of it. They scanned her lungs and miraculously found no damage. She quickly began talking and interacting with people, it truly was a miracle. Everyone at the ER kept saying what a miracle it was.
I was able to connect with the sweet woman who saved my baby's life. She told me that the day before they went down to St George she had thought that she should review CPR just in case anyone drowned. She thought that was a funny feeling to have at the time. They also decided to switch hotels, and thankfully they were staying at the same hotel as us. She had just come down to the pool, to spend time with her family, when Brooklyn was pulled out. I can't describe what it feels like to watch someone breathe life back into your child, but it is amazing. At that moment, watching her I knew that if my little girl died her life would be changed forever. I was so grateful to her for being willing to do that.
I was also profoundly impacted by the feeling of unity there was at the pool and in the ER. there were so many people there helping and reaching out to us. There was a sweet family that brought food to my family at the hospital, there was a nurse who took my children to her house for her husband and daughter-in-law to watch. There were so many things that made that moment so miraculous and life-changing for us. Every time I look at my children now I think 'I'm so glad you're here.’ I can't believe I get to be their mother.
There have also been moments of doubt, I keep thinking maybe I shouldn't be the mother of six children if I let something like that happen. And there are moments where I relive every second, and imagine what it must have been like for my sweet baby girl in the water feeling so helpless and alone. She has talked to me about it so many times. She talked about falling into the water, having all the air bubbles come out, the sound the water made going into her mouth, and then she talked about seeing a little girl at the bottom of the pool with brown hair. She also talked about the lady who looked like a princess. Then she told me that I was the one who got her out of the water, and that she was so happy that I saved her :-) everytime I take her in my arms and say “I'm so glad you're here”, she tells me that she's so glad I'm here too :-) one time she told me that Jesus died for her, and that she died for Jesus :-)
Just a few days after it happened, this little sweetheart poured a very expensive bottle of face oil down the toilet, and all I could think when I saw her with that bottle was I'm so glad you're here to pour that down the toilet. The reason I'm sharing this is for a couple of reasons. The hard moments as a mother will pass, but hold on to your children. They are so precious, we are so so lucky and blessed to have them. Every minute with them is a gift. Frustrating things about them will change, they will grow out of them. They will not always be so busy at getting into mischief. Or maybe the types of mischief will change as they age :-) but who knows the last time you will hold them.
Another thing I learned, we had been swimming with most of those people at the pool for a couple of days, and we didn't know any of them, and maybe we all looked at each other passing bits of judgement here and there. But in that moment when my daughter came out of the water we suddenly remembered that we are all in this together. I don't care who you are, everyone around us, we are all connected. Maybe someone makes you mad, maybe someone cuts you off, I don't really know. But my level of patience with people around me has changed so much. I love people passing by me, because I remember that we are all just here trying to do our best. A little bit of love and compassion for one another goes a long way. I also want to share this, because I know God is so profoundly aware of each of us. No matter what your beliefs are, I know He cares and loves us, more than we can even imagine. He is aware of our needs, our heartaches. And no matter what happens to us he will be there for us. "
Wow. So much sad and so much happy and so much love in that.
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