Rescue on my lunch break/Lifeguarding saves lives

Today at lunch was great/scary.  Basically, Tim was in the pool swimming with his nieces and nephews and then one of my sister-in-law's best friends was also there with her kids.  Her little girl-probably about 5 years old-went to the bathroom and forgot to put on her life jacket back on before getting back in the pool.  We were all talking and Tim was in the deep end with the other kids.  I just want to say how grateful I am that I was a lifegaurd.  Not only did lifeguarding give me skills to deal with angry patrons/parents, keep a cool head in stressful situations, and save lives...but being a lifeguard for so long has gotten me into the habit of scanning (actively looking around).   When I'm in the pool-especially with little kids-I'll scan.

Anyway, the women were all out on the deck talking-I was talking.  And then I scanned and I saw her.  It took me about 3 seconds to realize that she wasn't just testing her limits by tip-toeing deeper-this little girl was actively drowning.  I rushed to the side of the pool and here is where my guilt comes in-I didn't jump in.  I asked out loud as I was walking to the pool "Does she know how to swim?" (even as I realized she didn't), and then thankfully my sister-in-law who was in her swimsuit saw me rush to the pool and she ran and jumped in and grabbed her (so my sister-in-law told me she didn't see me rush to the pool, she heard someone say something-I don't even remember it now-but thankfully she jumped in).  She couldn't have been struggling for more than 15 seconds (because I had seen her get in the pool-scanning), and thankfully she was ok. In fact after she got out she kept saying "I'm ok. I'm ok. I'm ok."

But yeah...I helped save a life today.  / I also feel guilty because I paused for a moment considering whether to jump in or get someone else to jump in-my reason?...I had to go to work in ten minutes. Good reason? No. But as a coworker just told me, if no one else had been there I wouldn't have hesitated at all-and that is true.  And I knew my sister-in-law was 5 feet away in her swimsuit.  It was a seconds difference between me jumping in and my SIL. Next time though-I'm jumping in so I don't have any guilt about it. Basically though-it was a little scary.  I'm grateful I was a lifeguard and that I still scan when I'm around pools, but things can always happen.  I know that within a few seconds her mom would have noticed her and things still would have been fine.  But sometimes things aren't fine.

I'm also grateful to know that if things would have gone any worse, that I remember my training from being a lifeguard and would have able to respond appropriately.

I couldn't find any pictures of me lifeguarding, but I thought this was such a cute picture (obviously not a real lifeguard).  So all of the pictures in this post are from the internet.

I just wanted to give some advice for kids and pools. 
1. Always, always be watching your kids.  If they are under 5 years old try and keep your children within arms reach.  Even if they can swim, always be watching them and making sure you're near because children get tired way quicker than we do and can quickly go from a distressed swimmer to an active drowning victim.
2. Drowning signs: In lifeguarding we have different terms to describe the phases of people drowning.  Distressed swimmer means someone is swimming but making very little forward progression and instead of their body being completely horizontal in the water it is starting to go vertical. Active drowning victims: are conscious, completely vertical in the water, they CAN NOT call out for help.  Their arms are generally moving in very small circles near their body (trying to propel them upwards)-so they CAN NOT wave for help, and their head is just above/bobbing underneath the water.  There are also passive drowning victims who are unconscious and they can either be on top of the water, underneath, be breathing or not, and if they're not breathing they may or may not have a pulse.
3. If you have your kids in life jackets make sure they fit and that the child is aware not to go in the pool without their life jacket.
4. Put your kids in swim lessons at a young age.  One of the most important things a child can learn to do is a survival back float when they are tired in the pool. 3 years old is the earliest your child can be in a group setting for swim lessons in a Red Cross program, but get them swimming.  I am so incredibly grateful that my parents not only put me in swim lessons when I was young, but that I was then put in swim team when I was 5 years old. Learning to swim, and then competing in swimming has been one of the biggest joys in my life.

So in conclusion: Please be careful this summer while around any bodies of water.  If anyone has any lifeguarding or swimming/swim lesson questions please let me know.