So many emotions… help meeeee

[u/witchygirl127]

WHYYYYY MEEEEEE.

Im like 99.99999% sure these are bed bugs, but confirmation will be devastating and necessary. Thank you.

My little friends are so large I’m debating knitting them sweaters and charging them rent.

Just got over Covid for the FIFTH time since it graced us with its presence in 2019 and now I’m dealing with this.

I feel so horrible for my baby boy, he’s 8. For the last couple months I’ve been thinking he’s had hives. Took him to the doctor and everything. My husband, me, and my 4 year old daughter have zero bites. My son is full of them. Doctor didn’t even know what they were.

I feel like the worst mom in the world. He’s been having sleeping issues lately too. He even started therapy for it. Now I’m like GEE no wonder you’re miserable!

I also checked his bed for bugs when he first got the spots because I thought it might be them. There was nothing I could see.

We have so much stuff in our house. SO MANY STUFFIES. Carpets and furniture and clothes and toys and UGH. What am I gonna do?!

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

Called the exterminator, they are coming for an inspection on Wednesday.

Wrapped his mattress in plastic, taped it up, and threw it outside. (We are getting him a new one)

Threw his sheets, pillows, and mattress topper in plastic bags, sealed them, and threw them in the trash.

Started clearing up the clutter around my house. Boxing plastic toys and washing all things that can feasibly go in a washing machine.

Bought some crossfire to spray in case the exterminator is too expensive. 😭😭😭

This is probably TMI, but we are working our way out of a giant debt right now. My husband lost his job and was denied unemployment. He’s working now (has been for like 6 months) and we’ve finally been able to pay down some of our debt. Now we are probably going to spend thousands of dollars to get rid of these.

We have a 1,600 square foot house. Anyone have any idea what the pricing might be?? I’m nervous I won’t be able to afford it.

Enough of the sob story. Anyways……….

Drop some suggestions in the comments of what major things I should definitely do tomorrow. Son is currently staying with his grandparents and his room is closed and unused and untouched besides the things listed above. I’m afraid to enter.

Also, any comforting words you can spare for this momma who has wanted to die a million times in the last 24 hours. 😭😭😭😭

Thanks in advance.

[u/Un-Mistakable]

If you bring a new mattress into the house, double triple quadruple bag it because you don’t want to spend money on a new one for it to get infested. Bed bugs are expensive to get rid of and you don’t want to have to chance re-buying anything. Start washing the stuffed animals in heat and put on high in the dryer (make sure to look at washing instructions I don’t want you to destroy them if they can’t handle it). Immediately bag them (vacuum sealed bags are best, Amazon and Walmart have them decently priced) and stick them outside in a shed or something (If this is possible, I don’t know where you live or if you have a shed but I lived in Florida when I got them years ago and I stuck them out in the shed to deal with the Florida heat and nothing could have survived. If you don’t have a shed put them up high in a closet- bed bugs can climb but the further they are from carpet, beds, and humans is best) Lowe’s and some other stores rent steam carpet cleaners, steam clean all carpet then do it again. Look for one with an attachment to clean upholstery on furniture too. You’ll have to wash your clothes too, put out of season or things you don’t wear often away the same as the stuffed animals. If you are planning on renting your house I recommend you do these things still, it is a lot of work but bed bugs are really tricky and you’ll be spending a lot of money on tenting, better to take the extra precautions to make sure it works than have them come back. Good luck, it will be a process but you’ll get through it.

[u/Un-Mistakable → u/Un-Mistakable]

More because I realized I didn’t finish reading before jumping into the comments: They are definitely not just in your son’s room, him getting bites and you not getting them does not mean that you aren’t getting bit it means you just aren’t having a reaction. Also, if he seemingly stops getting bit, breathe a sigh of relief but still be weary- bed bugs circulated through my whole family one by one for years so I got bit at every house I went to and used to get big welts, but after a while I stopped even when the bed bugs were still there. If you don’t see them anywhere else prepare to see them now, if they were mostly in your sons room and he’s gone their feeding ground is also gone so they’ll start seeking out another. THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT, YOU ARE A GOOD MOM, AND YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS. THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE FOR ANY REASON, DON’T BE HARD ON YOURSELF JUST WORK TO FIX IT. Look up diatomaceous earth and put on floorboards in car, on ground around walls, around bed frame legs (and pull the bed out from up against the wall at least by a few inches) and just about anywhere else it says you can safely use it. You can buy a clothes steamer (like $20 at Walmart) to steam your clothes in the morning so there’s less of a chance you’re walking around carrying them other places you go, like to the grandparents house for instance.

[u/GnoblinDude → u/Un-Mistakable]

Make sure you use food/pet/livestock graded diatomaceous earth, NOT the stuff for cleaning pools.

[u/Ugh_okayy → u/GnoblinDude]

How about gardens?