Unexpected dip

So after sun-bed and bath, we all went back to Mum and Dad's house for a swim, being a warm sunny Perth October day.

It ended up quite disturbing. The pool surface was painted over winter and no one had thought to check the surface quality after the painting.

At first Dad was quite in control. However, as soon as he stepped down on to the main surface of the pool he lost his balance and he and Naina went under. The cameras kept recording and the photos kept being taken as we all sort of had a stunned nervous laugh on our faces. Dad tried to hold Naina up but he only slipped further and took Naina down with him again. It all happened so quickly that we all stood there gob smacked. The third time he went down with Naina again, Deepti urged me to jump in, which I did, fully clothed.

Grabbing Naina, I pulled her up out of the water and into Deepti's arm.

Dad was fine although scared and Naina, I expected her to be coughing and splutterring and crying and screaming. Perhaps it had all happened so quickly, that she didn't even realise it was somehow different to a normal bath. It might be an urban myth that babies know how to protect themselves under water, for a few seconds at least, but it meant that N was ok.

She started crying a few seconds after she was out of the pool. But I think that was in reaction to all of us nervously coming close and seeing if she was okay. Which she was.

I don't think I've been more scared in my life when I thought about what happened. Seriously. I definitely appreciate how tenuous our hold on life can be.