A new kind of problem has kept us busy lately.
It started out with a few itchy bites on my leg. "Bug bites in the summer?" you say. "How unremarkable."
Perhaps. But they were just so CONSISTENT. No matter what the weather, what I wore to bed, whether or not I had changed the sheets, windows open or closed...whatever it was sure was hungry. I never felt anything at night, never saw any bugs on my body, I would just suddenly start itching and find a bite or two (or several).
Finally one day (my birthday), while David was taking an amazingly long nap, I did a little research. Unfortunately, the best explanation that fit the situation was that we had bed bugs. :( I didn't want to believe it...I really wasn't looking for there to be anything wrong. I would have accepted an allergy explanation or something similar. But, the signs were just adding up to bed bugs.
Andrei wasn't getting bitten, but he wanted to make sure David (with a few suspect bites) and I weren't going to suffer long. We then entered the research phase of things...
We scoured extermination sites and forums. Andrei wanted to hear from the professionals and I wanted to hear from the people who had experienced this (and won!) :). I typed in search phrases like "I get bites but husband doesn't," and found tons of testimonials. He looked for (child-safe) bug poison that could be purchased in St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, if you read enough testimonials, you learn just how much people suffer psychologically from trying to get rid of infestations, whether it is bed bugs, fleas, etc. If it goes on for long enough, paranoia sets in. Since we didn't seem to have a huge problem (no visible signs of bugs except for the bites), we weren't TOO worried, but there was still a need to act fast. Even so, we began to exhibit a mild form of paranoia, manifested by incessantly checking each piece of lint we came across, often repeatedly. :)
Andrei, in an attempt to protect David, put containers of lavender water around the legs of his bed, so bugs couldn't climb up.
My issue was that I'd read all about quarantining belongings. People described basically living out of garbage bags for MONTHS. I started becoming obsessed with how this would work. How would we determine what was clean and unclean? How would we keep them separate?
Where were they hiding?
To be continued...
It started out with a few itchy bites on my leg. "Bug bites in the summer?" you say. "How unremarkable."
Perhaps. But they were just so CONSISTENT. No matter what the weather, what I wore to bed, whether or not I had changed the sheets, windows open or closed...whatever it was sure was hungry. I never felt anything at night, never saw any bugs on my body, I would just suddenly start itching and find a bite or two (or several).
Finally one day (my birthday), while David was taking an amazingly long nap, I did a little research. Unfortunately, the best explanation that fit the situation was that we had bed bugs. :( I didn't want to believe it...I really wasn't looking for there to be anything wrong. I would have accepted an allergy explanation or something similar. But, the signs were just adding up to bed bugs.
Andrei wasn't getting bitten, but he wanted to make sure David (with a few suspect bites) and I weren't going to suffer long. We then entered the research phase of things...
We scoured extermination sites and forums. Andrei wanted to hear from the professionals and I wanted to hear from the people who had experienced this (and won!) :). I typed in search phrases like "I get bites but husband doesn't," and found tons of testimonials. He looked for (child-safe) bug poison that could be purchased in St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, if you read enough testimonials, you learn just how much people suffer psychologically from trying to get rid of infestations, whether it is bed bugs, fleas, etc. If it goes on for long enough, paranoia sets in. Since we didn't seem to have a huge problem (no visible signs of bugs except for the bites), we weren't TOO worried, but there was still a need to act fast. Even so, we began to exhibit a mild form of paranoia, manifested by incessantly checking each piece of lint we came across, often repeatedly. :)
Andrei, in an attempt to protect David, put containers of lavender water around the legs of his bed, so bugs couldn't climb up.
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| David's bed bug "bling" |
My issue was that I'd read all about quarantining belongings. People described basically living out of garbage bags for MONTHS. I started becoming obsessed with how this would work. How would we determine what was clean and unclean? How would we keep them separate?
Where were they hiding?
To be continued...
Oh...boy.... I hope not!
ReplyDeleteStay tuned!
ReplyDelete