Our Update

I'm tired but feeling a little better. Jeffery found probably thousands upon thousands of bed bugs in the two carpets on the main floor. So many that I could literally stick my finger anywhere on the rug, pull the fibers apart all the way down to the bottom and guaranteed find one or two bugs. It made my stomach churn. So many. So gross.

Jeffery took an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half for the other two treatments of the entire house. Monday he spent two and a half hours just in the loving room and main floor areas. Our couch was turned upside down and we ripped the bottom fabric off to completely spray internally. Every cushion was doused. As in two days later and they aren't dry yet. We are unsure if we can keep it because it may mold internally in the cushions here before it dries making it useless and a health hazard.

The rugs were hauled to the curb after we could enter the house. They were totally saturated with toxic chemicals to kill everything in place rather than disturb them and spread the problem by making them all scatter. Brian rolled them up and took them both to the curb while I got the children settles into bed. In the morning I guarded the rugs. People often take things from the curb (like me) and thus people leave useful things on the curb (like me) for others to take and use. I went about my morning routine with every door and window thrown open watching. Finally the trash guys came by about 7:45. I anxiously walked to the curb and pointed to the rug and motioned to the truck. I smiled at my trash collector friend - we greet each other many mornings. He is so very kind and friendly but we do not share a common language so we speak the common language of sincere kindness each morning and exchange genuine happy smiles and waves. But this morning I am right on the curb and serious. My friend seems surprised. I motion again and he calls his partner to help him lift. His buddy looks equally confused. Couldn't someone use that? I firmly
motion again to put in the truck. They do but just to help them understand I turn my back to them and lift the back of my short revealing my back covered in massive welt looking wounds. Now we understand each other. The other friend begins pointing and yelling, "Pichu!! Pichu!!"which is incredibly close to the Spanish word I know to mean "bug" so I think we have bridged the language barrier yet again and off they go down the street until tomorrow with a kind smile.
I spent the next hour cleaning up after the fumigation. Everything was just covered. Floors were sticky. The laundry was now 100% contaminated because we set every single clean item right next to the couch and rug, sometimes even overnight. Ugh. So I made a feeble start until I woke Jacob at 9am to go to our last day of MOPS. I was glad to get away for a few hours.
Gina returned while I was gone and without any Ashlyn, Jacob, Maddie or Ben to interrupt her efforts had mad enormous steps at cleaning the house. My entire living room suite was spread out in the yard to sun and dry. The main floor was no longer sticky with poison. Things were collected and tidied up - the first two fumigations we had cleaned and tidied first but this time since we had the source Jeffery said don't move anything!

So we worked together all afternoon with her doing most the work and me doing one little thing between interruptions of motherhood. I thought over and over what a blessing to have her there. I can only imagine how my sharp tongue would have been unleashed because I have so much to do to make progress and restore my house to order and the children's needs just never seem to be able to be put on hold. Gina is my miracle. She goes and goes and goes.
I want to market to arrange the laundry folks to come pick up the clothes. We worked six twelve hour days and all of that has to be totally rewashed. We found multiple bed bugs within the "clean" clothes. So off to the laundry they go. Today we sorted by color and bagged them in airtight bags. Now they sit in the front yard. It's going to e expensive so we are only sending half but it feels freeing to be making that sort of fast progress. Then we also sorted by when we will need things. Next week. This month. Next time we see winter. Then the bags can stay sealed until needed. Make no mistake this fight isn't over. There are certain to be hundreds of eggs that will hatch and need to be killed - the spray can only kill the alive out of the egg variety of bed bug. But we are gaining ground now. We have a foothold. My soul has hope again and I feel like I can breath. Big breaths of chemical ridden air maybe but I can breath. Gina and Brian both feel the same. In fact Brian texted me back when I told him the horrific infestation we had discovered. He said,"I feel like shouting hurray!" who says stuff like that? Desperate, worn out people say that as they jump for joy.

I sorted laundry. Wiped down living room furniture. Dumped bed bugs out of diaper bags and trashed most of the contents. Threw out nearly an entire pack of pull ups for Jacob. I cleaned until after 11 o'clock last night. We collected lots and lots of bed bugs and put them in a jar. They aren't all dead though all we have caught thus far look sickly. We will observe them and see that they all die in that little jar. We had a good laugh over them. Gina squished one of them and said she was putting it out of its misery. I protested. I want them to all die a slow and miserable death so we should catch them all so I can just watch them be miserable. I dumped out Ashlyn's pack and play crib and there were so many bugs. It was awful. They were in her crib. Lots of them. And we kept playing with her on the rug. And letting her wiggle and stretch and be free there directly on top of the infestation. So yucky to think about.

My body is still totally covered with bites. It still feels like I'm on fire sometimes. And the itch is unbearable. I'm going nuts but I know it will be gone in a about a week. I'm praying it's fast. I am so excited about our next fumigation. To kill all the bugs before they feed. They can't lay new eggs until they feed at least once. I'm happy for now and up to my eyeballs in the laundry we are keeping. It's going to be a very long week still.

Now the rain is coming and I have to go move the laundry back in the house at 3:30 in the morning. Fun times.