Does every family go through this one time in their lives? Maybe more? I thought we could dodge it...certainly it couldn't happen to us!...right? Well, it did. And, now that it has happened to us, I'm believing that it probably will happen a few more times before our lives are through. How easy it was to get and spread. Whew. "Lice-capades," as we've been referring to it, was a doozie, but we got through.
Here's how it all started...
Gavin's hair was getting a little "moppy" and needed a good cut. We'd been chatting about it at the dinner table just the night before. Almost every night I plop some dermatologist-prescribed medicine on his scalp for a scalp condition that he has that causes itchiness. This particular night, he was itching and requested the medicine. For us, to see him scratch at his head is just a sign that he needs the medicine, not that he has bugs crawling around.
Well, I went to put on the medicine and was paying a little closer attention under the light and noticed nits (these are the clearish looking eggs on the hair shaft). Um, what a shocker. It hit me like a ton of bricks and it was 8:30 at night. Next, came a look at Sophia, yep...she had it too. Somehow, Todd and I both managed to dodge the bullet as we looked at each other's scalps and saw nothing. I had to convince myself that we were in for a wild ride and that this was really happening. I think we just couldn't believe it. We sent them to bed and set up a game plan for the next day.
After some googling on what to do, we decided that we would take the kids to the pediatrician the next day. Some have asked why, but we weren't sure that the over-the-counter medicines were ok to use on a 3 year old and, honestly, we wanted someone to tell us this was a joke and it was something else. So, we woke up early and Todd went to work as I shuttled the crew to the doctors for a confirmation. Yes, it was, indeed, true. I asked the doctor to check me again and she seemed to think I had a few nits as well. This changed my whole mindset as I, originally thought I was in the clear and now I'm not so freaked out at touching my own kids (I think God did this on purpose so that I would get the job done).
Off to the store we go and spend close to $100 to get rid of this. The whole house got bagged or washed and I spent the entire day washing heads and picking through hair strands of Sophia, equaling close to 4 1/2 hours. It was unreal. At that point, it was decided that we would just buzz Gavin's head. Todd had come home early and did the job, noticing that the hair was, literally, moving as he buzzed. Ok, freaky. When he came upstairs for the shampoo and pick-through, we saw how many bugs he had. Oh my, how did I miss this? How did I not know? You could tell that eggs had already hatched and this is a time period of 2 weeks, oh my. Not a good feeling. If you are a mama, your heart will sink when/if this happens to you.
We're past it all now. At first, I was embarrassed. I felt like I just failed as a mama. How did I not prevent this? How did I miss this? How could I not know and help? I've come to realize that it just happens and it happens to the best of us. I'm hoping that, one day, this story will comfort another mama and ease your worries that you feel so alone. Take it in stride and know you are not alone. At first, I asked "why us?" and then I realized, "why not us?" We are not more special than anyone else. This is a normal part of life and it has made me a better person, and we are a better and stronger family because of it.
