My Worst Nightmare
I have always heard horror stories about having to deal with lice. Always hoped to avoid it at all costs. But was not so fortunate in the past two days.
Riley's head has itched since Monday morning. I looked at the base of her neck and saw that she had scratched it raw. She also had dry skin on her legs and arms so I figured it was just like the eczema I was dealing with. I put some Eucerin on it and didn't think much else about it.
Yesterday Ms. E said that Riley came up to her and said that she just couldn't stop itching her head and that she knew it wasn't lice because I had looked in her hair a few times and there weren't any bugs in it. So she sent her down to my room to get lotion (which I hadn't brought with me to school) so I sent Riley to Nurse Jo. Riley told Nurse Jo she needed lotion for her neck and was given lotion.
At the end of the day, Riley went into Nurse Jo's room and she checked Riley's head and found lice moving. Ewww... makes me itch thinking about it. I walked into the office and she gave me 'the look' that said it all. I was like "No - seriously?! eww..." So she took Riley and I into the bathroom and dug through her hair with sticks until she found the moving lice and said "there it goes! there it is again - you see it!" Once I saw the bug moving, I was totally grossed out.
Had her check my head as well and Madi's as well. Figured we wanted to get rid of this as soon as possible and wanted to make sure that we caught it all. I checked Julia's head when we got home which is fairly easy because she has such fine hair.
It was pouring rain yesterday so we stopped at Walmart and bought several things and then stopped at a few more stores to get some things, but they were out so I got what I could find.
Went home to start the cleaning process on the house as well as Riley's head. Took a long, long time to sift through her hair and do the treatment. Vacuumed the entire house top to bottom, vacuumed the couches and cushions and pillows. Decided to clean both girls rooms as though they both had lice just in case. Put all her american girl dolls and stuffed animals (wow they have a ton in their rooms!!) in bags and set them in the garage to hang out in there for the next two weeks. Put all the pillows in bags and set them out in the garage in bags as well. Ripped off all sheets from Julia and Riley's rooms including all of their bedding. Sprayed down their beds and mattresses with anti-lice spray as well as spraying in the car on their carseats and chairs.
The amount of laundry is insane. I know we are probably going overboard, but I'd rather get rid of it once and for all. We know that Madi's room is safe because they haven't been in there and haven't laid on anything so she wouldn't have caught it. Her room will be next to clean through once all her stuff is put away from being at Poppi and Grammy's house... a little (lot) at a time.
Last night I did four loads of laundry - hot, hot water and then hot heat in the dryer. Today I am on load five. So nine loads total in the last two days. And we're still on bedding. Not much clothing yet. I have four more loads I think and I should be good after tomorrow to do our normal loads. Tired is an understatement.
The wildest thing is that I only saw one bug moving in her hair. I did use a zapper thing from CVS that supposedly finds the lice and when it hits them, it zaps them and kills them on the spot. It stops buzzing when it is killing the lice. I truly think it worked as it did this four or five times. Then we washed her hair (thinking that the live lice went down the drain) and did the comb thing through Riley's hair which took a few hours. Never did find any live or dead lice in her hair. Did find what we think may have been a nit or two and did definitely find one egg. But other than that, there really wasn't much there. And her hair was very easy to look through.
Such a pain!!!! We went to bed late last night. In fact, the girls did as well. I fell asleep with Julia with my makeup still on and my teeth unbrushed. This has not happened in forever... as in almost never. Maybe one other time in the last twenty years. Woke up and felt pretty well rested, but mentally tired thinking about whether or not we got all these tiny little annoying bugs.
Riley's head has itched since Monday morning. I looked at the base of her neck and saw that she had scratched it raw. She also had dry skin on her legs and arms so I figured it was just like the eczema I was dealing with. I put some Eucerin on it and didn't think much else about it.
Yesterday Ms. E said that Riley came up to her and said that she just couldn't stop itching her head and that she knew it wasn't lice because I had looked in her hair a few times and there weren't any bugs in it. So she sent her down to my room to get lotion (which I hadn't brought with me to school) so I sent Riley to Nurse Jo. Riley told Nurse Jo she needed lotion for her neck and was given lotion.
At the end of the day, Riley went into Nurse Jo's room and she checked Riley's head and found lice moving. Ewww... makes me itch thinking about it. I walked into the office and she gave me 'the look' that said it all. I was like "No - seriously?! eww..." So she took Riley and I into the bathroom and dug through her hair with sticks until she found the moving lice and said "there it goes! there it is again - you see it!" Once I saw the bug moving, I was totally grossed out.
Had her check my head as well and Madi's as well. Figured we wanted to get rid of this as soon as possible and wanted to make sure that we caught it all. I checked Julia's head when we got home which is fairly easy because she has such fine hair.
It was pouring rain yesterday so we stopped at Walmart and bought several things and then stopped at a few more stores to get some things, but they were out so I got what I could find.
Went home to start the cleaning process on the house as well as Riley's head. Took a long, long time to sift through her hair and do the treatment. Vacuumed the entire house top to bottom, vacuumed the couches and cushions and pillows. Decided to clean both girls rooms as though they both had lice just in case. Put all her american girl dolls and stuffed animals (wow they have a ton in their rooms!!) in bags and set them in the garage to hang out in there for the next two weeks. Put all the pillows in bags and set them out in the garage in bags as well. Ripped off all sheets from Julia and Riley's rooms including all of their bedding. Sprayed down their beds and mattresses with anti-lice spray as well as spraying in the car on their carseats and chairs.
The amount of laundry is insane. I know we are probably going overboard, but I'd rather get rid of it once and for all. We know that Madi's room is safe because they haven't been in there and haven't laid on anything so she wouldn't have caught it. Her room will be next to clean through once all her stuff is put away from being at Poppi and Grammy's house... a little (lot) at a time.
Last night I did four loads of laundry - hot, hot water and then hot heat in the dryer. Today I am on load five. So nine loads total in the last two days. And we're still on bedding. Not much clothing yet. I have four more loads I think and I should be good after tomorrow to do our normal loads. Tired is an understatement.
The wildest thing is that I only saw one bug moving in her hair. I did use a zapper thing from CVS that supposedly finds the lice and when it hits them, it zaps them and kills them on the spot. It stops buzzing when it is killing the lice. I truly think it worked as it did this four or five times. Then we washed her hair (thinking that the live lice went down the drain) and did the comb thing through Riley's hair which took a few hours. Never did find any live or dead lice in her hair. Did find what we think may have been a nit or two and did definitely find one egg. But other than that, there really wasn't much there. And her hair was very easy to look through.
Such a pain!!!! We went to bed late last night. In fact, the girls did as well. I fell asleep with Julia with my makeup still on and my teeth unbrushed. This has not happened in forever... as in almost never. Maybe one other time in the last twenty years. Woke up and felt pretty well rested, but mentally tired thinking about whether or not we got all these tiny little annoying bugs.
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