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So Saturday saw us taking our first trip to A&E with a Iona...

Walking down a sunny street in London three abreast saw Iona giggling away as she was getting arm swings... the count of 1. 2..... 3 would see Iona being gently swung forward as all kids enjoy, her giggling and then with her feet safely back on the ground, she would let go of our hands, sign "more" and the process would repeat.

All good fun, on a lovely day as a family, until the final swing: there was a soft "pop" noise which I felt in my hand, we put Iona down and she did the big opening of her mouth as she sucked in all available air in the area, ready to be used to in a long loud continuous scream of pain. Mummy couldn't make it better, we couldn't see any swelling and gentle prodding of the wrist didn't provoke a reaction, however movement of the arm did. So with a "we're not far from the Cheese and Wine" from me we set off...

1) We weren't that close to the Cheese and Wine (sorry)
2) We didn't see any empty taxi's (although I'm not sure that any taxi driver would've picked us up)
3) Carrying a crying baby for a distance is hard work (well done Octavia) especially when you don't want to swap carrier over as you don't want to move your baby / child - and generally if Mummy is there then Iona doesn't want a carry from me (and yes I take it personally sometimes!)

We arrived some 15-20 minutes later at A&E (I did a quick divert into a Starbucks for water and a chocolate brownie - just in case) register and get told to get to the childs A&E, go into there and sit down, Octavia bing careful not to disturb Iona who although very unhappy is no longer screaming. We're seen by the triage nurse who after hearing what we were doing immediately diagnoses "dislocated elbow" asks Octavia to move Iona around slightly and with a quick bit of lower arm movement and a lot of crying from Iona announces that it's "done" and she'll be ok shortly, we'll get some painkillers to give her now but that should be it.

And it is, I've never seen a recovery so fast... within 2 minutes both arms are back in full operation and some of the chocolate brownie is being eaten happily. We're seen by a Doctor fairly soon, and I ask is it a common injury - "Third one today"....

So there you go I'm not out of the running for my parent of the year award, but my top tip is don't swing your kids, the elbow joint is properly set until 7!

Shame really as it is a lot of fun, and even the next day Iona was asking for a swing again...

Our first visit to A&E with Iona, I'm sure it won't be the last.