We took a dip in Lac de Neuchatel!

Well, I was going to talk about our faboo weekend, but Tobius McWobius put the kibosh on that. Walter read this and we decided to say that this entry is a departure from my usual as it's rather serious. Just remember that we're all OK and whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!

Yesterday we took a walk to the 'down park' at the harbour. It was lovely and sunny, even if it was a degree below zero outside, and the boys were raring to go. We got out the house with a minor fuss and ambled down. I've been getting Tobe to walk as he's too big for the stroller and won't walk anywhere unless you make him, so it takes a very long time to get anywhere. He's taken to walking behind us and stopping if we stop. That's relevant to what happened to him. Looking back now, I can remember as we walked through the port towards the park, seeing a couple of men next to the port building working on the boats that had been pullled out for the winter. We had a lovely half hour playing on the commando slide and running around, and I decided we should head back since it was getting really cold and there was a chicken in the oven. We set off with Allie running ahead and Toby moaning about having to wear his gloves on his now freezing hands. He kept shaking them off and I kept putting them back on. He did his usual lagging thing, so the way that I've made him keep going is to walk ahead towards Allie and look back to make sure he's following. This is where I start kicking myself- he's not even 2 and I let him walk that far behind me. He's not Allie with his careful, thoughtful manner. My Mum says he's 'thrawn' (meaning perverse or contrary), but it's my job to keep him safe.... I was walking along, past the remaining boats, when I looked round to see where Toby was. I can't remember hearing a splash, but as soon as I turned round I could see that he was definitely not on the road. I ran back to where he had been and looked in the water. There he was, floating on his side, kicking his legs with a look that I never want to see again. He was barely above the water. I think his big, puffy coat (2 sizes too big) helped keep him afloat. I remembered to take my bag off, annd immediatelly looked to the area where I had seen the men. I started screaming 'help' (not m'aide) and I saw them start running towards us, so I jumped into the water. I think I would have jumped if there hadn't been anyone there.... I don't really know. As I jumped I also heard Allie screaming in a way that utterly petrified children do. I took a life saving class in school and had remembered to do the jump where you're less likely to sink, but I didn't take my snow boots or coat off.....ouch. I sank. Luckilly, the lake is very clear, so as I surfaced I could see exactly where Toby was (the red coat helped). He was starting to sink and I tried to push him up out of the water. When you see people fall into icy water in films you hear them shout and wave around. It's not like that at all. As soon as I surfaced I couldn't breath. All I could do was make weird gulping noises and kick my legs as hard as I could to get above the water. I had grabbed Toby and was trying so hard to make sure his head and as much of his body as possible was above water, and realised we had to get over to the side (an 8ft drop down vertical sides). There was a man at the top saying something about leaving to get something and coming back. He returned with a boat hook. I think he hooked around me and Tobe and moved us ~15ft around a corner to a ladder. By this time, I had my voice a bit. All I could say (in French) was "get a doctor" and "where is my other son". In between I kept telling Toby to keep screaming (I guess I didn't want him to 'go to sleep') I don't know what the man was saying back to me. He came down into the water, grabbed Tobe and pulled him up one handed. Walter and I think it was at least 80 lbs, one handed in the cold. I got myself up the ladder with him pulling me. I couldn't move my arms or fingers, and I'm pretty sure that if it had taken me longer to get Toby elevated and us moved to the side that there's not much I could have done. At this point I don't remember getting into the port buiding. We stripped Toby and wrapped him in a blanket and waited for the ambulance. I wanted so desperately to call Walter, but my phone was in my pants pocket and the man who rescued us didn't speak any english. When the ambulance arrived, one man checked Toby and the other gave me a blanket and told me to strip and put it on. Then we had an exciting ambulance ride through the neighbourhood to Hopital Pourtales ( new and excellent!) where the now screaming Toby was whisked away to have his core temperature raised. It was ~88 F on arrival. They kindly moved me into the his room to help calm him, and there he was, surrounded by heating blankets with a little, mad face poking out. So what was poor Allie doing? He was quietly waiting, drinking juice that the nurses gave him and drawing pictures. Later, he told Walter that he liked the ambulance ride. The policeman (and most of the staff) spoke good English, so he went to get Walter from his work. When Walter arrived Toby was much improved, not screaming anymore, playing with the nurses, wanting to get down. He took Allie home and left him with our super neighbours and came back with dry clothes. The boys went to bed late and we all slept badly. Toby's not doing so well tonight either. I think it's finally hitting home what happened. We had a very close shave, and I keep thinking about all the 'what ifs'...... the man who pulled us out is the real hero here. If he hadn't been there, I don't think I would have had the strength to get us out. Our neighbour said the water was ~4C..... I haven't seen him yet, and don't know his name, but I want to go find him to say Thank-you. How do you thank someone for something like that? I owe him my and my son's life.

So there you go, a potted history of our lives being saved yesterday. I've learned never to turn your back on a toddler, but I knew that anyway. Walter was going to take the day off tomorow to go see Kim and her family in Zurich, but we've decided to stay home with the boys. Hopefully we'll see them soon and definitely next Chritmas season there :) I'll do our weekend in the nest post. Paris is next weekend too :) That'll take our mind off 'stuff'!