Miller "High Life" Sturges

So far I'm doing pretty good at this blog thing... GO ME!

I forgot to mention in my last post for Bria's 1 month that she also got to meet her cousin Amy Ansley, Great Aunt Georgia, Great Uncle Randy and Great Grandma Mammy. The pictures of you with Mammy are on daddy's phone so I unfortunately can't post any! :(

Now on to the main man of my post today. Puppy dog Miller.

The week of the KSU spring game Miller and I had gone over to Jordan's to play and hang out with the family while Brian golfed. When it was time to go home Stu took Miller and I back to our house. Once we arrived I opened the car door and Mill jumped out, just like he always does when on car rides. Unfortunately we were in mom and dad's big expedition and the jump down was a little bigger than what he was use too and on the way down he hit his back left leg on the running board. Stu heard it from the other side of the car but Miller took off like nothing had even happened, so I wasn't too concerned. 

Later that evening he started limping around, really favoring that leg. I felt his leg to see if it had a bump or something and he would barely let me touch it, but would let me put an ice pack on it. He wouldn't even jump up on our bed without some assistance so I knew something must of been wrong. I started texting Brian about it, with me being pregnant I started to feel really bad and honestly even started to cry but Brian assured me everything would be ok and it was probably just bruised. We even talked about picking Brian up from Aggieville and taking him to KSU vet clinic. 

I did end up going to pick Brian up and took Miller with me, he of course was acting fine and excited to be on another car ride so we just let it go. After that off and on he would favor the leg, limp around, and wait for us to assist him when trying to get up on our bed or the couch. Which if you know Miller that is not his normal behavior as he is a wild dog and usually running and jumping on anything he can get his little paws on. 

So, we decided to take him to KSU vet and get things checked out just to be safe. Well we were wrong when thinking it was just bruised, at this point it was a partial tear and we were to keep him crated and on pain medicine for about 4 weeks. HA, yeah right that will not happen with our dog without feeling like we are torturing him!

We tried to restrict him as much as possible and gave him his pain meds and eventually he seemed to act fine again. 

Then we brought Bria home! Not to mention our house was all boxed up and a mess, so I think the little guy was confused. He wasn't sure why his house was in boxes and why there was this new tiny human taking away all his attention, not to mention screaming at all hours of the day keeping him from getting his much needed naps! 

He really started limping and got to the point he wouldn't even use his leg anymore. So, the Friday we moved mom took me to Manhattan so I could take Miller to the vet and get it checked again. Unfortunately they informed us he had fully torn the ACL and the only way to fix it without causing him arthritis and more problems down the road was surgery. 

We gathered all the information we could on this surgery and weighed our options on what to do. We even looked into taking him to Nebraska for the surgery because we got a quote that would be cheaper than KSU. After Brian got back from Oregon we decided to just take him to KSU and do the surgery. 

He had the surgery last Tuesday August 5, 2014. I actually had to drop him off that Monday so they could run test and make sure he was healthy enough for the surgery. Got a call Monday night and everything was set to go and he would have surgery at some point Tuesday afternoon. They said they would call us once the surgery was done unless something goes wrong during and they need to speak with us. During this time we decided to paint our living room/entry way so I kept myself busy doing that and taking care of Bria or I was going to go nuts sitting around thinking of my puppy all day. Brian eventually came home around 3:30/4 and I was getting anxious because I hadn't heard from KSU, but they had called Brian and informed him Miller was out of surgery, everything went fine and he was in recovery! 

I felt so much better except we couldn't pick him up until Thursday. I think the last time I was away from Miller longer than that was our Honeymoon and he was with Jordan then so I wasn't worried at all, but for some reason being alone in a kennel at the vet worried me. 

I went and picked him up Thursday and knew he was happy to be escaping that joint but not happy with me for taking him there. He gave Brian a ton of kisses when he got home from work and would stick his nose up at me. Luckily things have changed and he likes me again, but still not as much as he likes Brian. 

Now we are just on the road to recovery of 8 weeks. Which means pain medicines, physical therapy and being kenneled except to go to the bathroom. He can get out and sit on our laps as long as that is all he is doing, which he has a few times. We just have to be really careful that he doesn't jump down, jump on the back of the couch or anything else!!! 

1 week down..... 7 more to go!!!!

 

Bria- 1 Month

Weight: 9lbs 11 oz- 78%

Height: 22 in- 58%

Head: 36 1/2 cm- 35%

They say time flies by and man did the first month come and go! 

Your first month of life was probably more eventful than most newborns. Of course you didn't get to enjoy the 4th of July because that is the day we came home from the hospital and daddy and I were still trying to figure things out! 

Thankfully grandma stayed the first night you came home to help us. You got your first bath at home and brother miller wanted to help!

This was also the first bath you pooped in and I'm positive it won't be the last since you have already done it a second time!! :)

At 1 week old we moved! You lived in your first home for 1 week and then we packed up and headed to our new home in Wakefield. Luckily you and mommy didn't have to do a lot since mommy was still recovering from the c-section and you were still trying to figure out what your arms and legs were! Luckily we had help from friends and family. Also, that same week we took your puppy to the vet and found out he had fully torn his ACL in his leg :(. 

The second week was pretty calm, mostly still trying to figure out this parenting thing and putting the house in order. 

The third week your dad decided to leave us for a week in Oregon. I tried getting him take us with him but we didn't figure you should be riding on a plane yet and mommy shouldn't leave you. So, you and I stayed home and grandma Kirk came up for the week to stay with us and help out mommy. She also helped get your room put together, which I must add that your Uncle Dustin painted it for you so it wasn't the ugly blue it was when we moved in. I also believe this week must of been the period of purple crying because you would not stop unless someone was holding you and that didn't make it any easier for grandma or I to get things done. This week you also made your first long car ride to Topeka to shop and visit your cousin Connor. 

Daddy returned home that Friday and that afternoon we loaded up the car and headed to Bucklin. I was nervous how you would do on this car ride, honestly I was expecting to want to pull my hair out. But you slept the entire way home!!! We headed home for Great Grandpa Fisher's 80th birthday party, while we were there you got to to meet your great aunts, uncles and cousins as well as your favorite "aunt" Emily and my old teacher Mrs. Harden. I didn't get any photos of you and your cousins with Grandpa and Grandma Fisher but you were bawling your head off the entire time. 

That is all for now. Below are some random photos from your first month!

First Family Photo

Hanging out with Dad and miller on your first day home- July 4th

Chilling in your boppy

Your first book!

Hanging out with daddy. 

Taking a nap in your new house!

Love you baby girl!

Bria Marie Sturges

Well I'm going to try this blogging thing again. I'm hoping it will go better this time around since I have something or someone more exciting to write about. Don't get me wrong, Brian keeps things entertaining but not exciting enough to keep up a blog on and Miller just lies around on the couch!

Anyways I'm hoping to write monthly updates on Miss Bria and hopefully stuff going on in our lives in between.

So, let's get started on the real reason I am trying this blog again.

Miss Bria Marie Sturges

We went to the hospital July 1, 2014 to be induced. I was over being pregnant and I didn't want her born on July 4th or 5th and my Doctor was going on vacation July 3rd. So, we get to the hospital around 7pm on July 1 and around 9 they began medicine to help start the labor. This evening was pretty uneventful. Brian got to sleep on an awesome recliner chair/couch thing and the TV channels weren't a lot to choose from. Neither of us slept well that night but we did get some sleep.

Around 7 am on July 7 they came in and removed the medicine and started me on pitocin and broke my water. At this point I was not allowed to eat until she decided to arrive and I was hoping mid afternoon she would be out and I could eat again. Unfortunately Bria had other plans! Throughout the day contractions obviously got worse and I was not progressing at all. I would say around 2:30-3 I finally asked for the epidural. Brian was in charge of helping me sit on the bed and help ease with the contractions and the pain of the needle. If any of you know Brian he does not do well with blood, needles etc. so the plan was that he wasn't to see the needle but that didn't work out as planned and he thought he may pass out. Thankfully he didn't and held himself together! :)

After the epidural I finally got to take a nice nap for probably about an hour while Brian hung out watching TV and visited with our parents in the waiting room. The doctor came back in around 4:45-5 and checked and I had only progressed to a 3 throughout the entire day, and her heart rate kept dropping. Dr. Gros discussed doing a c-section even though he knew I didn't want one but it was either that or who knows when she would have came naturally and for the sake of her since her heart rate kept dropping we decided this was our best option. So, I said let's just do the c-section and end this! I text Brian so he could come back into the room and know what was going on. We weren't sure how long this process would take so Brian asked and the Doctor told him we were headed to the operating room in the next 10-20 minutes. A lot quicker than we were thinking! Off to the waiting room Brian went to let everyone know the plan, then he came back in and got dressed in booties, hat and gown and off we went!

Once in the room all the medicine made me nauseous so they got that under control and me situated in case I vomited. Still not knowing how long anything would take I made a comment about my arms being numb not knowing at this point that they had already started cutting me open. It's amazing how quickly all the drugs work and how quickly they worked to get me on the table and cut open. After being in the room for probably 20 minutes Bria was out!

July 2, 2014 at 5:38 PM Bria Marie Sturges was here. She weighed 8lbs 10 oz 20.25 inches long and a full head of hair!!

Brian asked when they pulled her out and told us she had a full head of hair if we were sure he was the dad. I promise he is that is definitely his lips and chin she has!

Stay tuned as a month has already passed by and she has changed a lot already. Hopefully she is a good girl and will let me write that post. Plus a lot of other things happening in our lives as July was eventful!