Pregnant Lifeguard at 33 Weeks Saves Drowning Boy While Teaching Her Twins to Float
Stephanie Swedberg's first-ever rescue came while expecting her third child
At 33 weeks pregnant, Stephanie Swedberg was teaching her 3-year-old twins, Aiden and Declan, how to float at Crystal Beach Park in Burnsville, Minnesota, when she heard a mother's frantic screams for help.
A Mother's Desperate Call
Swedberg saw a fully dressed mother wading through the water, screaming. Her 11-year-old son was drowning, thrashing in the water with his head going under repeatedly. The mother couldn't swim well enough to reach him.
"He was thrashing, and his head kept going under, and she couldn't get to him. For some reason, no one was doing anything," Swedberg recalled.
The Fastest Swim of Her Life
Swedberg, a former lifeguard, handed her twins off to her sister and raced 20 yards through the water to the drowning boy.
"I've never swam so fast," said Swedberg. "He wasn't screaming...he was just thrashing around, bobbing a little bit."
First Rescue Ever
In a remarkable twist, despite all her time as a trained lifeguard, this was Swedberg's first actual rescue ever�and it came while she was 33 weeks pregnant with her daughter.
The family would normally have been at church on Sunday morning, but they chose to watch services online and head to the lake instead. That decision saved a boy's life.
Encouraging Future Lifeguards
The boy had only taken a few swimming lessons. After the rescue, Swedberg encouraged him to keep taking swimming lessons and perhaps become a lifeguard himself one day.
Stephanie and her husband Nick were expecting their baby girl in September 2022.