Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!

Growing up we chanted quite regularly the old adage, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" As a young child I never realized bed bugs were real. I always thought it was just something funny to say so we would all go to sleep and sleep well. Little did I know that these bugs could actually invade my home!

As an adult I would hear stories about bed bugs in hotels, but I never really thought about it. I've stayed in plenty of hotels, but never thought twice about picking up bed bugs in the hotel! I never really considered it a real threat. After all, I never heard about anyone close to me having an issue with these pesky bugs.

So, when I started seeing little black bugs on the beds, the thought that they were bed bugs didn't cross my mind. I was only seeing them occasionally, so I thought it was just another common household bug. So I dismissed the bugs and went on my merry way. Occasionally I would wake up with bug bites but chalked it up to spider bites because we have had a lot of spiders in our home. The thought of bed bugs still did not even cross my mind.

Then I had my fourth child. We had just gotten home from the hospital and by this time the bug population had grown exponentially. I was waking up with a lot of bites, which I thought was hives. At this point I still didn't realize we had bed bugs. I am so oblivious sometimes! I told John that I must be having a reaction to the medication. After a short while I dismissed that notion. Then I thought, well, it wasn't too long ago we changed the laundry detergent. Maybe I'm allergic to that. So I started putting my laundry through a second rinse cycle. That wasn't doing any good.

As I sat pondering this predicament and being frustrated with not knowing what was happening, the thought came to my mind that we probably had bed bugs. I almost laughed out loud because the thought was incredibly ridiculous! Bed bugs? Me? In my house? No way! So I ignored the thought. Then I had the thought again, louder this time, shouting at me! So I went to the trusty internet. :) I googled bed bugs and found multiple websites. I found one with a good description and even pictures of these bugs. To my horror, this is exactly what I was dealing with. Bed bugs!

So, how was I to get rid of these pesky bugs? The prospect looked grim. I thought I could just get some bug spray and get rid of them myself. Maybe there was a good home remedy that wouldn't cost and arm and a leg. But, in all my research, I learned self home remedies were not effective against this resilient bug. We would need the help of a professional exterminator. The search was on. We found a company that we thought would do the job well. During the initial consultation they guaranteed their work. They were confident the problem would be taken care of! They left leaving us hopeful we would be able to take care of the problem. They came, treated our home multiple times, and then the warranty period was over! The bugs should have been gone.

We hadn't seen any bugs for awhile and hadn't been getting bit. All of a sudden Timothy started getting bit big time. One day he had so many bug bites it looked like chicken pox. Emma and Amber were getting bit. Apparently these bugs were resilient to the pesticides used to exterminate them! At this point I didn't know what to do. We had tried the professional exterminator, could we really afford another one?

Then I found out one of my neighbors was dealing with these same bugs. She told me about the company they went to and I decided it was worth a shot. I called them, and they were able to come the very next day. They seemed better qualified than the first company to treat bed bugs! I was confident we could take care of the problem this time. I was so full of hope.

Throughout all of this I had to keep reminding myself that this isn't what I call a "dirty" bug. I didn't get bed bugs because my house is unclean. I do admit my house is a disaster most days, but it isn't because it is unclean. In the bedrooms it is clutter. But the clutter did not cause us to get bed bugs. It isn't like ants that invade when there's food left out.

The other thing to keep in mind was that these bugs do not cause diseases. They are just annoying. And they mainly come out at night when we are sleeping because it is dark and they have a lot of time to eat! They like to stay close to the food source so they will stay close to the beds. We only had bugs in the three bedrooms upstairs. We did not have them in the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, or the basement. That was a relief!

Because the kids had these pesky bugs in their beds, I was ready to throw out the beds and buy new ones. This second exterminator assured us we would not need to replace the beds. He was 100% confident he could take care of the problem. As far as I can tell right now, these bugs are finally gone! They are no longer invading our home. We have our home back. Pesky pests no longer make their home in our beds!

It has been a long journey to get rid of these pesky bugs. Fortunately we caught the problem before it was too bad. The exterminator has regaled us with stories of worse cases than ours. I am grateful we figured out the problem and have been able to take care of it in the early stages!