Swimming With Spina Bifida... Our Floating Leg Solution

Madi had a big desire to swim by herself, but had a problem with her legs.  With her floaties on, her legs would also float up, but unevenly.  This caused her to have poor balance in the pool and struggle to not flip over.  Because of that, we always held her and/or supported her body for her when we went swimming.  I looked online and found some little wrist weights that are used for water aerobics.  I got them for her ankles, and they work perfectly!  They are one pound each (if you buy them, they were the 2 pound set, because they tell you total weight, not the weight of the weights individually), so just heavy enough to keep her legs down a little, but also still light enough to let her put them up when she wants to kick them. 

This is how we use them on her (That's Tami, our amazing PT, in the water with her)...

The same day we put them on her, she took off swimming!  She was SO proud of herself and so excited.  She did not want to get out of the pool!  Ramya had to keep up, so she started swimming (with her floaties on) by herself too.  She is very proud as well!  It's so fun watching them gain some independence.  It really is huge for them!  Conner has also really loved being able to "help" them swim now.  He's so proud too!  Here are some vidoes and photos of the kiddos swimming...

 

(we made up some silly songs to help us remember how to move our body and swim :))