Adventures in Parenthood, Part 1

This happened when my eldest daughter was a toddler in nappies - something that is very important to this story!

We were in our living room and my daughter was enjoying her new freedom now that she could finally walk - it had taken her a long time to learn due to her dyspraxia, but we did not know that at the time.

Anyway, it was one of those quiet, lazy days. I think I was reading.

"Penny!", said my daughter. We looked up and there she was, holding a 5p coin in her hand. Suddenly, without any warning, she popped it into her mouth and swallowed.

And started to choke.

Quick as a flash, my wife had her suspended my her ankles and slapped her between the shoulder blades.

A cough.

A clinking sound as the coin hit my daughter's teeth.

A swallow.

Coin gone.

Oh god, that was a big coin, what if it gets stuck?

So off to the hospital for an x-ray. I really wish we could have kept that x-ray. We could see all of her tiny, delicate little bones and there, slap in the middle, the white circle that was the coin, safely in her stomach.

So back home, everything should be OK, just make sure that the coin comes out at some point. Yes, you guessed it. We had 2 weeks of closely examining every single dirty nappy, searching for that coin. After 2 weeks I was wanting to give up, I could not face another one, we must have missed it, but then it happened.

"Poopah."

Her face went red, then darker red, then her eyes watered, then a sigh of relief. It was finally out.

And we still have that (thoroughly cleaned) 5p coin, safely stored away in her memory box.