Mom Hears Screams, Sees Son, 4, 'Bobbing Up and Down' in Backyard Pool: 'His Lips Were Blue'

Kayla Hoffman shared her son's story on TikTok, urging parents to practice water safety when their kids are in the pool

A mom is sharing her son's near-drowning experience in the hopes of providing "comfort and reassurance" to other parents who have gone through similar experiences.

Kayla Hoffman posted on TikTok to share that over spring break she visited Destin, Florida, to stay in a rental home with family friends as well as her three kids: a 6-year-old, 4-year-old and 18-month old.

"We got to the house and we'd only been there for, I don't know — 10, 15 minutes," she says, adding that the house was "chaotic" as everyone settled in and unpacked.

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Still, some of the kids — including Hoffman's two older children — went in the pool for a swim.

According to Hoffman, both her kids have had swimming lessons and know how to swim and get into and out of the pool on their own. Maddox, her middle child, was able to stand in the shallow end on his own so the mom of three went indoors quickly to grab the baby monitor while her youngest slept.

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"As I walked back to the living room, my friend Michelle happened to look out the back door and screamed, 'Maddox can't touch!' " Hoffman recounts in her video.

"As she says that, I look out the window and I can see him in the deep end bobbing up and down, trying to swim, trying to catch his breath and he can't."

The two women ran outside immediately, with Michelle pulling Maddox out of the water and handing him to Kayla.

"He was never unconscious, he wasn't floating in the pool, he wasn't in the bottom of the pool, but his lips were blue, his face was blue," she says, noting that he soon coughed up water before she took him to the ER.

Maddox was ultimately transferred to a children's hospital, where he was monitored overnight before being released.

Hoffman, who works as a labor and delivery nurse, says that even though her son was okay, she wanted to share the experience to help other parents dealing with the guilt that accompanies a near-tragic situation like hers.

"After posting my video ... I received so many comments encouraging me to be kind to myself and reassuring me I am not alone in the guilt I felt, and honestly continue to feel some days," she tells PEOPLE.

In the six weeks since the incident, Hoffman says she no longer feels "suffocated by guilt," but still thinks about that moment "constantly."

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"Every time Maddox comes up and hugs me, tells me he loves me, does something funny, enjoys a new experience, or really any small milestone, I find myself thinking about how grateful I am that this story ended with my happy, healthy son still here with us," she tells PEOPLE.

She hopes that, with her TikTok video, she will help raise awareness about the importance of water safety, noting that when kids are the pool, there should always be "a designated water watcher among the adults — and it needs to be verbalized, never assumed."

As for Maddox, Hoffman says he is "healthy and thriving. He’s still in his weekly swim lessons and doing fantastic."

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