3 separate jars, each with a bug, and a cotton ball drenched in alcohol...zip locked plastic baggies are not acceptable to Public Health.
Dear Son (DS) is 6 months old...and has been sleeping through the night, up until 6 weeks ago. That's when he started waking around 2am screaming and scratching ferociously. My solution was to rub more eczema cream on his little head. This went on for weeks...and I was wondering what that doctor was thinking...this can't be normal...then we found out he also had a skin fungus...so THERE was the answer...I hoped.
Nope.
Still waking around 2am every night. Screaming...scratching.
Bugs never crossed my mind...until 3 weeks ago when I was feeding him around 10pm and felt a bump on the back of his head. A welt. Huge. I called my Dear Husband (DH) to feel it...but by that time our little guy was sleeping soundly...so I put him back to bed.
The next morning...the welt was gone, but he was itchy. Oh no...I started to wonder. Bed Bugs? There's been a recent outbreak in the city.
I found a dead bug on my DS's head after a nap 2 weeks ago...it would have been undetected, but I was Skyping with my parents and he was sitting in front of me. I kept it on a white saucer that we don't eat off of, because I could barely see it.
A few days later, while Skyping with with my MIL I found another dead bug...looked a little different than the other one, so I put it on the saucer as well.
I started putting things together.
Great. We just moved here 8 months ago...all excited for our new life in the city of Toronto-5th largest city in North America!!! After being in the midwest for years, city life sounded sooo appealing. Plus, we were due with our 1st child in July, he was going to be a dual citizen! How exciting.
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Anyway, after finding the 2nd bug, DH and I tore apart DS's room. We inspected seams of crib mattress, vacuumed, steamed (that steamer for my wedding dress is good for something after all), hot laundry, dryer...and we found 2 bugs behind the changing table.
Google Image search on the 2 bugs. I HATE Google Image- (it's so disgusting to have to search through pictures of body rashes and insects, but I'm going to get to whatever is chomping on our baby). I determined they were NOT Bed Bugs...and they went on the saucer. 4 dead bugs. White saucer.
The next night - happy baby in bed...and the next night...and the following day, I took a week-long visit to my parents with baby. VERY happy, spoiled baby, sleeping soundly, stretched out on the spare bedroom bed.
Came back home - first 3 nights - wonderful...
But the 4th night...2 nights ago...DS was bit...11pm. I guess those suckers missed him. He and I moved to our spare bedroom to let DH get some sleep.
Checking the DS's room in the morning...blankie has little trail of blood spots, as does blankie #2. Oh, please, no...
Last night - husband and I slept on the floor of baby's room and baby slept in our bed (our bedroom has had no sign of bed bugs...yet) According to all the Google searching I've done...it's important to have someone continue to sleep where the bed bugs were originally found....otherwise they will migrate to another area of the house. So now WE are the bait. We spent the night there with no bites...but I'm so boney, that sleeping on the floor was very uncomfortable for me, I think I had a total of 3 hour's sleep. Combine that with the previous night's 4 hour's sleep...and I'm due for a mental break down.
Sent photos of the 2 large bugs to a Bed Bug ONLY exterminator. They are not bed bugs...but what about the little ones...I couldn't take a picture...they were so small.
Put them in jars and took them to Public Health yesterday....waiting to find out the verdict.
Oh yes, and yesterday, my landlord came to fix a shower situation and I told him I'm waiting to find out about said bug problem. He was immediately concerned and I have a good feeling that if it is confirmed to be bed bugs...he will be on our side.
TODAY - I'm going to buy carpet tape, & place around the crib legs and floor baseboards...I'm going to trap a live bed bug...because I'm not sure if the samples I sent in were large enough. If it's bed bugs...and I'm fairly certain it is...I want to catch them early and shell out the money to rid us of this quickly.
Today I also started reading Exodus in the Bible (I'm reading chronologically through this year). I came to the 4th plague: flies. According to some theologians they were blood-sucking flies. Pharaoh was a moron to not repent right then and there...and I am learning again what it means to be content in all things.
My husband was encouraging last night at dinner. Reminding me..."we will get through this...and also, our son is being bitten by bugs...not cancer." Yes. Thank you, God.
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