Swimming was my saving grace as a pregnant woman.
Had I not swam, I would have likely been miserable from back pain, feet swelling, general lack of mobility or something worse. There are tons of crazy things that happen to your body throughout pregnancy. And swimming, like a miracle, takes off that extra weight (I still say it’s invasion of the body snatchers.), if even for the short time you are in the water. So I’d don my whale blue speedo suit, throw some sweatpants and a t-shirt over it and head over to the YMCA. Forget modesty! If it was early morning, I’d get lapped by all the senior citizens in swim caps. If it took me a little longer to get going, I’d be dodging the kids from lane to lane as they usually started lessons by 9 or 10 a.m. When I saw the mommy and me classes, those ladies would look toward my belly and smile. I’d look at them and start biting my nails. Could I handle this??? Dragging baby in and out of the dressing room, slippery baby in and out of the pool. Oh boy.
Then, water was also a large part of Oran’s birth, providing me with a calm in the midst of a storm and giving him a more gentle entry into this overwhelming world.
We waited about a year to take Oran to swim class; but only because of the chlorine and the fact that it would be tough on a newborn’s sensitive skin. The videos from water births around the world illustrated for Mike and I just what amazing swimmers babies were, swimming naturally out of the womb. In one video, they let the newborn go in the ocean and he swims like a little guppy, not even using his arms at all – just wriggling and kicking his little legs.
When we got to Oran’s first swim class, called innuits (what is an innuit, anyway?), he was immediately ready to hop in. You should have seen the glee on that little face each time I lifted him high and then brought him back down into the water. My heart smiled. He is a natural, splashing around.
wow, I never knew this about babies….Natural swimmers,eh? So, if you don’t start them off swimming right away, do that they lose that aquatic nature? I did not learn how to swim until I went to Girl Scout camp when I was 10 and I definitely consider myself a land animal but, somehow, it is probably a maternal responsibility to insure her child knows how to swim regardless of how difficult it might be to schlep the child in and out of a dressing room. I did not necessarily do this with my other two children, but I am inspired by your blog to bring out the amphibious nature of my son so that he is not as afraid of the water as I.
My other children almost know how to swim through the trial and errors of taking them to the pool each summer. I can definitely empathize with your pre-birth trips to the pool because this past summer it seemed to be my saving grace. I purchased a family pool pass again and found much solitude at the pool, even with all super charged kids running around the pool, splashing and playing whiffle ball in the grass. The water was so refreshing on a hot day and the only dreaded part was getting my bathing suit on because when you can’t find your feet anymore you start to get a little nervous about those hard to reach shaving areas. TMI, I know.
I like your experiment, though, and I hope you do really well with it. It sounds like a plan. Since I am home now, I too have thought about resurrecting my attempts at novel writing. So, your site has given me new inspiration to find quiet moments between feedings to construct worthy characters and plots. Thank you. . . Tara: )
Tara, I was wondering the same thing, whether babies lose their innate ability to swim if they are not taken to water early in life. Will need to research and get back to you. But your personal account does shed some light on this, I wonder if others would tend to agree? I’ll have to get you a copy of the water birth video. It’s cool.
Until then, I should get Oran back into the water. There is just something about all of that chlorine that gives me a little bit of the heebie-geebies.
Thanks for the words of encouragement, I need them! Writing really is therapeutic when I get around to it.