Waterway Babies

I've wanting to do something different with Little Man therapy wise for awhile now. As everyone knows, I live in the boonies & have to drive at least 45 min. to get anywhere worthwhile so I was looking into something I could do at home.

I have wanted to do a hydro type therapy with Little Man and was looking into places to take him however all the local pools are outdoors & he has an exceptionally hard time keeping his body temp regulated in the heat. If the temps are high & we are outside for as little as 15 min. he will puke. I'm scared that this body temp regulation problem he has may lead to a siezure so I've been keeping him indoors as much as possible, venturing out only in the shade or early morning or the evening. He seems to do much better then. Unfortunately, pools are closed by then:( 

I've seen the waterway babies set up on several blogs & after checking out her website I saw I could afford it! WooHoo! I ordered the pool & neck ring & recieved it in record time. Its something that when colder weather comes I can set it up in the house even:)

To give everyone an idea as to the size of the pool. I set it up next to our older style pack n play:) Its made of a vinyl-type material with supports so it can shape to a tub, but for me it works much better out on our porch!

Its so big around that I can fit in it with Little Man (no pic of us, lol) This means that Captain Chaos (who loves water, pools, bathtubs, puddles, you get it) can join his brother in the pool:)

I've heard that CP kids are either "sinkers" or "floaters" when you put them in the water. Little Man is a floater. The above pic is his usual position in the water. The water has to be very very warm for his body and legs to relax. Once they are relaxed, he can kick some. He's a little puzzled by it all but he has not cried or showed any sign of not liking it so we try to do this once a week.

So far, I can get him to stand in it and bounce around a bit. The ring is the best thing so far for forcing him to do something else with his hands than chew on them. That frustrates him the most it seems. He loves to chew on his hands but he has to learn that there are lots of other things to do with his hands:)

I like this set up. I think its a great way to bring water type therapies to a home environment where the kid can feel most comfortable. The drawbacks are that the pool, while small as far as pools go, is large as far as home tubs go. I estimate this pool to hold around 80 gallons of water. In the pics, it is set up on our porch where the drain is attached to a hose so the water can be used for the shrubs planted around the porch. Currently, the pool is set up in the wash stall of the barn since that is the coolest place on the property and closest to the larger water heater. Filling this pool up in our house will use up every drop of hot water in the house so for now, it works best in the barn.

I LOVE the neck ring. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have just got the neck ring and done all the water therapy stuff in the tub since he is still small. The ring helps keep his mind on doing something with his hands, helps him to be in the bath tub with his brother for more interaction with his brother. However, I like having the pool as an option for using outside. The best 115$ I have spent on a home therapy system:)