All My Life (Sequel to Starting Over)

Chapter 3

Today is a pretty exciting day, I'm taking Lucy to her first ever swimming classes. From when I was young I knew I needed to do this with my child because my parents didn't bring me, in their defense it wasn't really a thing in the 90's. Long story short I almost drowned when I was young, which is something Shayne and I bonded over when I first met him. I couldn't have been any older that 4 and I went to the beach with my parents. They told me not to go in without them as they were setting up our stuff but really, when do kids listen, the answer is never. While they had their backs turned, I thought it would be a good idea to take my little shovel and go dig by the water and yet again they warned me not to go to close, and again I didn't listen. I started digging on the dry part and slowly moved towards the wet sand, and the further in I went the more I sank. I was in up to my knees when a big wave came and yanked me out of the sand, taking me out about 20 feet.

I tried to yell but the beach was very busy and I wasn't a very loud child so the first person to notice was some teen boy who was a life guard at that beach. He dove in and saved me and my parents were so happy that I was alive that they didn't punish me, not that they needed to because I was so mortified that I wouldn't be in the bath alone until... Well until I started taking shower. That day definitely haunted me and to this day I'm still surprised I survived but I did and I'm going to insure that my children never have that experience. I shook off the thought and continued to get ready, I put my one piece bathing suit on then put on some tights and a cropped hoodie. In a bag I put our towels and a change of underwear then put my hair up, put on some waterproof mascara and my shoes before I went to get Lucy ready.

"good morning honey." I said in a soft voice as I walked into her room, she hasn't been sleeping through the night better so I let her sleep while I was getting ready. I changed her into the swimming diapers and fed her before changing her into one of my favorite outfits of hers and packing everything she would need for the class including her little blue bathing suit into her diaper bag. "ok, we're headed off to class." I said, walking down the stairs with Lucy in one arm and our bags in the other. "go say bye to daddy." I told Lucy and place her in Damien's open arms. He bounced and talked to her for a bit while I got the last of my stuff together and took my antidepressants. That alongside the therapist I've been going to has really helped with my postpartum, she thinks I'll be off them soon which is great because I'm not a big fan of the side effects. Let's just say no sleep plus no appetite makes Sydney a very unhappy girl. Once I was ready, I said bye to everyone and got into Damien's car and began the drive to swimming class.

"hello everyone, welcome to your first 'Mommy and me swimming lesson'." the instructor said in a very peppy voice. She must've been no older than 20 and was very petite but what she lacked in size, she made up for in personality; she reminded me a lot of my sister. "I hope everyone brought some of your babies favourite bath toys because today's main focus is getting your baby comfortable with water and what better way to do that than playing!" she said, bobbing up and down in the water.  I'm currently sat on the ledge of the shallow end with Lucy sat in my lap facing outward, a position that all the other mothers in this class mirrored. The instructor went over some ground rules, all of which were obvious like keeping your baby at arms length. Next she taught us how to get the baby in which was basically laying them on a wet mat on the side of the pool then sliding in and picking them back up since when were in, this is to insure that we don't slip and take them down with us.

Once we were in the water, she taught us how to get their ears used to the pressure change. How you do thus is basically lay them on their back with your arms cradled beneath them, then you swing them back and forth, alternating between their head being half in the water then back to sitting up, this also helps them learn how to float. Next the taught us how to teach our kids to breathe in before going underwater but letting us watch while we inhale deeply then blow bubbles under the water. Lucy loved this part, she had a smile on her face the whole time and laughed ever time I blew bubbles, I was smiling so hard that I wouldn't close my mouth in time and I kept almost choking on the water; that would have been very embarrassing but on brand. The last thing we did before having free time to play was the toy is lay the baby on their back against your chest and walk back while kicking their legs, they'll see that and correlate the kicking with movement, we did that on their stomach as well then we were sent off for free time.