What. A. Day.

It started off normally enough. We got up, I fed Conor and got him dressed, Ed had a shower and got Orla dressed then took them both downstairs for breakfast. When I came out of the shower I heard Ed shouting "Anne, get down here now!". I went downstairs to find him holding Conor upside down and Conor choking. We checked his airway and couldn't see anything obvious, but he definitely seemed to be choking on something. I tried feeding him but although he latched on he pulled off really quickly in a fair bit of distress. So I phoned NHS24 and explained the situation, and they sent an ambulance.

The paramedics took us to Monklands hospital where we were admitted to A&E. Eventually we were seen by a doctor and then by an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist. He ordered an x-Ray. The x-Ray showed a very distinct star-shaped object lodged in Conor's throat - one of the stars from Orla's reward chart. It was decided to transfer him to Yorkhill and we were "blue-lighted" (sirens going!). He was just taking it all in.

Once we got to Yorkhill things moved pretty quickly. They did more x-rays and decided they would have to operate to remove it. The anaesthetist came down and took us up to theatre. I went in with him initially until he went under (they used a mask) then had to wait outside. About 20 minutes later they came out to say they had removed it no problem and the ENT doctor had checked his throat and there was no damage. About 10 minutes later I heard Conor screaming. They brought him out to me and I fed him.

By the time we got up on to the ward, he was quite happy and you would think nothing had happened. Ed sat with him while I went to get some dinner. He has gone home now and I will be spending the night on the ward sitting next to Conor's cot.

I would like to think this is a one-off, but with this boy I somehow don't think so. On the plus side, he waved to one of the paramedics and gave a nurse a big sloppy kiss. And a free Homer Simpson superhero toy from Burger King has been invaluable at keeping his spirits up.