bly. I just assumed that a mosquito had bitten me on the ankle, so I ignored the first signs. After a couple of days, I began to notice I had multiple bites on my ankle as well as on my arms, back and on the top of my feet. The itch was intolerable! I literally wanted to rip my skin off! I decided to complain to my husband about my condition, and that's when he decided to tell me he noticed bites on himself as well. He also mentioned he noticed a flat bug on our bedroom curtain, but I just thought it was some bug that flew or crawled from the open window...yet again, I ignored another sign.

After two weeks, my bites became open sores from scratching so much. I told my husband that something in our room was continuosly biting me, and we had to find out what it was as soon as possible. At that moment, my husband told me that he found another flat bug, but this time it was on our bed. When he mentioned about the bug being on the bed, the answer finally hit me like a ton of bricks...WE HAD BED BUUUUUUUGGGGSSSS! I immediately searched on the internet for images of bed bugs, and when the images appeared on the computer screen, I asked my husband if that was the bug he saw, and he nodded his head in a horrified yes. We began researching on how to get rid of bed bugs, but nothing prepared us for the steps we had to take..it was horrible.

My husband and I began throwing cloths which could have possibly been infested into hefty bags. Whatever cloths we didn't need, we wrote a warning on the bag stating there were bed bugs inside. All the other clothing we had to wash in HOT water as well as dry in a hot dryer immediately! We then began to wonder what would kill these diabolical little creatures within the home, so we decided to get a bug bomb...that was really a bad idea. Bug bombs kill every other bugs except bed bugs. We then began cleaning the room throughly and we checked our bed for evidence. We began checking the bed skirt of the bed, on the side where the curtain was, and we saw many little nymphs (baby bed bugs) on the side of the bed skirt! We removed the bed skirt and throw it in the bag immediately. We then began checking the seams of the bed as well as the box-spring, but we didn't see any adult bed bugs, nymphs, feces or eggs on the bed. As I looked towards the curtain, I knew they were crawling from the curtain down to the bed, I just had to find their nest. I saw a few nymphs on the front of the curtain, but nothing prepared me for what I saw behind the curtain. I had found the nest! Adult bed bugs, and nymphs were running around on the curtain! I throw the curtains away in a garbage bag.

To make this already very long and horrifying story short, despite our efforts of cleaning, washing cloths and desposing of cloths and items, we were still being eaten alive by bed bugs. We finally decided to get rid of our bed and buy a queen size aero-bed. We called 311 and we made an appointment for a bed bug inspector to investigate our apartment, but they never showed up. So, we decided to buy an insecticide from the internet called results insect killer (especially for bed bugs). We used the insecticide throughout the entire house; We created a baracade with the powder around our bed, against the corners of our walls, on the cracks of walls, floors and outlets. We cleaned the old powder and put fresh powder once a week, and after a month, our bed bug situation was finally over! However, there is an 80% chance of bed bugs coming back after a first infestation, and I don't know if this powder would work for everyones bed bug situation, but hey, you could always try it.

On a final note, our bed bug problem wasn't only a physical trauma, it also took a mental and emotional toll on me and the rest of my family. For almost a year after our infestaion, I had developed a horrible case of insomnia from fears of getting bitten by those horendous bugs! We later discovered that a neighbor next door to us had moved out from their apartment. All I can think of is that this woman had an infestation, and she never took care of the problem, which is why the bed bugs moved in next door into our home. As of November 2008 (nine months), my home has been bed bug free. I am finally sleeping much better now, but I still have fears of those blood suckers coming back into my home. I would never want this experience for anyone not even my worst enemy. I hope this infestation never attacks my apartment or building ever again. I never knew that this little saying was really true: "Goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite". Uh, yeah, no kiddin'!