Lice

We have it. Or HAD it, hopefully. Last Wednesday I scratched my head and found a bug under my nail, which was gross but I just assumed it was a nat or something. Thought little of it. Well that same night the same thing happened and I instantly knew this could not be a coincidence. I shook out my hair over the sink and there was ANOTHER one. I instantly Googled and found some information about thrips. Thrips are these little bugs that get in your garden (hey, I have a garden) and disease your plants (hey, my tomato plants are wilting) and sometimes get in and hang out in people's hair (ah HA!). Thrips even looked right, so I went to the shower and scrubbed my hair and scalp with Dawn. I got out, let it dry, and shook out my hair over the sink again. Another one. AAAHH! I Googled to see what else I should use in my hair on thrips when I came across this photo...
Jared walked by and examined the photo and the bugs in the sink and said, "Yeah, I think you're right. That's what it looks like." I said, "THAT'S not a thrip. That's lice!!!" I hadn't ever seen lice, so I freaked. To know this bug was BREEDING on my HEAD is a little too much for the brain--I nearly short-circuited. I washed and combed my hair for an hour, and then blew dried it. There was no way there was anything left in there, and nothing was coming out. I felt better.

Until I went to check the girls hair. That image I will never be able to erase. The second I shone a flashlight on Madeline's head I saw them crawling, right next to her pretty little closed eyes and sweaty forehead. There were two or three just fumbling around on her hair strands like a jungle gym. I panicked inside and then checked Mallory in her bed. Same thing. I almost cried. I tried picking them out but the girls were stirring and I was not about to say, "Lay still honey, while mommy pulls all the buggies off your head." So I had to leave it until morning. I almost cried. I couldn't sleep all night while there were bugs crawling on my babies. It was traumatic.

The next morning the second they stumbled out of bed I told the girls they were getting makeovers. "Yaaayy!" they screamed. I used a grapefruit seed extract concoction and all four of us had towels on our heads for the next 45 minutes while I painted their nails. When I took the towels off Mallory and Madeline, there were bugs stuck all over the inside. After a mental barf, I quickly hid it with a great big smile. "Your hair is going to be soOo PRETTY!" I also treated their hair with olive oil and tea tree oil (the smell of which lice hate), but I think it was the GSE that killed them all. So after that my friend Rachel (dear, dear Rachel) came over and we started on the eggs, picking. And picking. And picking. For days.

At least 60 man hours we've picked. In four days. The first two were 12 hour days. Rachel had to pick me for a good four or five hours the first couple days too. Man, we've watched a lot of movies. The girls have been so incredibley good about it all. Luckily Meredith has been lice-free, but Mallory had it pretty bad and Madeline had the worst infestation I've probably heard of. They had minor complaints about their neck hurting or wanting a break, but overall they've been angels. I guess finally telling them there were "itchy things in their heads" and then graduating to "teeeny tiny little bugs" (had to be conservative), helped them to be patient about letting us pick them. Anything that touched there head for even a second was washed.

We're down to finding nearly nothing. The few eggs I found yesterday seem hatched, but I'm not taking any chances. The good thing about GSE is it is natural and you can use it everyday, as eggs hatch. The chemical treatment is toxic so you can only use it a couple times a week. I'm going to pick and treat today, and then we'll hopefully be good for just picking and treating again in week. Hopefully there will be no signs of anything then.

I have just got to say that I would not have been able to have tackled this without Rachel's help, and it was such an example of selflessness on her part to leave her husband and two children to come to my house picking picking picking, sometimes until 2am, for days to help us. THAT, (along with the vision of bugs on my babies), will stick with me for a long time. All I know is, after this, we are washing with tea tree oil once a week from now on, and I am keeping an eye on their hair. Hopefully no more crawly bitey parasitic infestations for us. Is that really too much to ask, really?