Beating the BBs

Ok, before you read this, please know - we didn't tell you because we didn't want you to avoid us like the plague.  And we've been free and clear for a year now.

So....... have you ever been nine months pregnant?  And have you ever had bed bugs?  And have you ever endured both at once?

Yeah?  Me too.

The story is pretty simple.  Last January J-Man and I noticed we kept seeming to get bitten by something.  Neither of us thought much of it.  I knew itchiness is sometimes a symptom, and by this point I was feeling every symptom in the book.  Doctors were telling me how low PDG was and how likely it was that he would come early.  I was physically ready and emotionally a wreck.  A few bites didn't really register.

Then J-Man got a weird bite on his face.  Someone at work wondered what was up.  Allergic reaction?  Spider?  Or... could it be?

We've lived in NYC.  We know a few people who've dealt with the pests.  We had an inkling.  But denial can be a strong, strong state of mind.

That is, until we saw one.  A nasty, yucky, evil little critter.  There could be no more denial. We had bed bugs. 

So after hours of freaking out and googling everything on the bugs (a slight change from googling "ways to induce childbirth" and "what do contractions feel like) we started the work.

Our pest control asked us to launder everything, and seal all other possessions in bags.  

Mama and Papa H stepped in, helping us pack up all our stuff (including the super cute new things from the baby shower.  I packed and lifted what I could, while frequently sitting to catch my breath (or cry, let's face it, I was pretty emotional).

Our valentine's day weekend was spent in a hotel, partially because it was a romantic time, and partially because sleeping in our own bed simply led to even more third trimester insomnia.

When the pest control folks said they do two treatments, I thought I was going to flip the #### out.  Sure, they could say the fumes are fine for a pregnant woman and unborn child, but I hadn't avoided philly rolls and turkey subs for nine months to screw up my kiddo with bed bug bombs.

Luckily, J-Man was being a bit of a champ at work, so we took another mini-vacation.  We told no one, and went and stayed in a nearby hotel for a week.  Who knows what the front desk clerks thought was happening.  I took their shuttle to the metro, went to work, and came 'home.'  There was a McDonald's by the hotel that I frequented, uh, very frequently, and we made it work.

By the time we felt safe coming home we were approaching the due date.  Mama and Papa H came again, and helped to set up the nursery.  Even now, a year later, there are a couple bags of who-knows-what that we haven't  gotten around to unpacking.  (Yeah, we should probably just take them to goodwill since we clearly haven't missed the contents).

The good news is, by the time we came home with our bundle of joy last March 12th, we were convincingly bug free.  We could sleep -- in two hour chunks -- without fear of any creepy crawlers getting to us or our little angel.  

But man, the month of February 2012 is one that only now can I start to discuss without getting an overwhelming sense of anger/disgust/exhaustion/confusion.  How happy we were to make it to March, for more reasons than words can express.