Swimming Pool to Emergency Room - our baby's first swimming experience

Charlotte & Daddy in the big pool

Charlotte has always been a very sweet, happy baby, but there aren't too many things that stick out to me as things that she loves. She's never gotten overly excited when we sing silly songs to her, or give her a bath, or when she plays with a specific toy.

So when we met up with some friends at a Madrid public pool last Saturday, we were so excited to see how much our Sweet Pea loved the water.

We had not been to a public pool in Madrid before, but friends had told us about their experiences. Some were good, some not so good...especially with babies. So, I was kind of prepared for us not to stay long but we quickly found that it was much like public pools that we'd experienced in the States....oh, except for the part where half the women had no swim tops on and children were running around naked! :)

Hortaleza Public Pool - Madrid

I thought it would be a good idea to try the "infantil" area first - aka. kiddie pool. This is where we saw all the naked kids and moms without tops. I guess they don't have to worry about tan lines. Charlotte had fun there; she crawled & splashed around and we were able to get some pictures...although pictures these days are getting rather difficult because she doesn't like to sit still long enough to smile for the camera...oh well, lots of candid shots!

We wear LOTS of sunscreen -
we're a really pale family!

After the kiddie area, we decided to see how Charlotte liked the big pool. This is when she really came alive! Pictures could not capture how much she loved splashing around in the water. She was all smiles! It was so fun to watch her enjoy something so much.

I really wish we had tried the pool earlier in the summer since we're leaving for Hong Kong today, but now that we know she likes the water so much we'll plan plenty of water-related outings in Hong Kong.

You may be wondering...where does the emergency room play into all this? Well, we have been so so so so blessed with how healthy Charlotte has been in her short life - especially since we've been living in Spain and our options for doctors are not the greatest. Please don't hate me when I tell you that she has yet to be sick - she's had some icky days adjusting to travel or teething, but she hasn't even had a cold yet.

So is it really any surprise that she picked up some kind of virus from the public pool? No, not really. I should have been expecting it, but I was totally caught off guard when I thought she was pretty hot on Sunday then checked her temperature to find out it was 103!! That scared me!

Thankfully she didn't really have any other symptoms of being sick, but she did continue running a fever the following day so we called the doctor (who said she spoke English but doesn't :)). She told Brendan she wanted us to take Charlotte to the emergency room, so we did...Charlotte's first ER experience.

I didn't take any pictures, but this was actually one of the best ER visits I've ever had in my life. You wouldn't think that would be the case since it was my own child I was taking and we are in a foreign country and can't communicate that great. But this pediatric emergency room was great! It was a short walk from our flat, so Brendan took a taxi home from work then we walked up there. It was also surprisingly efficient...most things in Spain are "manana". They take their sweet time, so we expected to be there a while. I'm pretty sure we were in and out in an hour! Have you ever experienced that in the U.S.?! I haven't.

I wish you could have heard how they pronounced Charlotte's name. It was so funny! We listened carefully for it and then went back to the room they called us to. The nurse or doctor or some medical person was already in there waiting for us. He checked Charlotte out and everything seemed to be fine besides her temperature, so they gave us some acetiminophen and sent us home. Brendan listened carefully and communicated pretty well with the guy (and we had our Spanish-English dictionary handy...thanks, Bradley!). Not bad for our first Kinne family emergency room experience...not bad at all.

I'm so thankful my daughter loves the pool, but I'm ever more thankful that God protected her little body and helped her fight off an infection without much issue.

AND we are off to Hong Kong this evening! I'm sure we'll have plenty of interesting stories to share with you over the next 6 weeks.

*Check out our Kinne Photos for more pictures of our swimming adventure!