Quarantined

I'm on my way to work this morning & I stop at daycare to drop off the kiddies like I do every morning & there were about 10 garbage bags of stuff outside. I thought this to be a little odd. My daycare is usually well kept outside & I've never known anyone to drop off their Salvation Army stuff there. So I proceed to the door & what's posted? A notice reading, "A case of head lice has been reported. Every child will be checked!" So think oh great. Which dirty kid brought this to daycare? So I go in & the daycare owner/director is sitting there with her little comb & alcohol checking kids. Luckily the little guy is still pretty much bald as could be so he has little worries. She starts checking my daughter & she checked her for about 10 minutes. I'm thinking ok come on I'm going to be late for work...AGAIN! She proceeds to tell me that the child with the lice is one of Mackenzie's good buddies. But checking is done...so far, so good! She was checked numerous times throughout the day & I arrived to pick her up & they said she's in good shape, we didn't see any bugs all day. So I'm thinking we're good to go. I go home & wash my sheets, her sheets, Logan's sheets, all the blankets laying around. I did 4 loads of laundry. I checked her head again. And I kept thinking how do I know what I'm looking for. I've never had head lice, I've never seen it before. What if I'm missing something? So I use this handy, dandy internet tool & find all kinds of controversial things about lice & what treatments to use. Some of it was kind of scary. So bath time rolls around. I bath the kiddies & I start combing Mackenzie's hair. I'm combing it very closely & checking every strand of hair & I'm starting to see these little white things. So ok are these the so-called nits I've been reading about or are these just flakes from her scalp? They are so teeny, tiny, how am I suppose to know? Then all of the sudden I saw this "huge" (ok it wasn't huge, but it was bigger than I thought it was going to be & bigger than the little microscopic nits) BUG! An actual bug. It was white & I saw its legs & everything. It was the creepiest thing I've ever seen. So of course I say, "Oh S**t!!!" And Mackenzie says, "what, what's wrong mommy? do I have a bug in my hair?" And with my ever so calmly mommy voice, say "yes honey, yes you do." And instantly she starts freaking out. "Get a tissue, get it mommy, get it! I don't want bugs in my hair!!" ***For future reference, never tell your kids they have bugs in their hair!*** Great, so now what? I call her doctor to find out his recommendation since the internet just confused & scared me. He tells me what to do. Then I remember that my 3 nieces & nephew were here on Saturday. I call my sister-in-law to break the bad news to her. Thinking that I'm just telling her as a precaution because surely Mackenzie didn't have this over the weekend. My sister-in-law calls back 15 minutes later...Cassie has it too! So then I call my brother-in-law. Both his kids have had it before so he was cool about it & said they were both ok so far. Then I had to call my brother about my other niece & I think she's ok for now too. Mackenzie spent the night at mom's over the weekend so now my mom is freaking out that it could be in her bed. I could get this! Mackenzie can't go to daycare until its completely cleared up. I can't go to work if she can't go to daycare. This is just absolutely terrible. I feel bad for the daycare owner. She had so much stuff she took home to wash & now she's going to have to do it all again tomorrow. She might be better off to close daycare for 2 weeks until its completely gone. I feel like all the kids, especially the girls with lots of hair are going to get this. Its just going to be one vicious cycle!! And its so embarrassing, so what do I do? Publish it for all the world to read! I always thought of the kids with lice as being dirty or living in a dirty house. Well my house may not be spotless, but I do clean it. And my kids get baths EVERY day! How do you prevent things like this? And will it keep coming back? I'm just so frustrated about it. And there's no one to really be mad at. I like my kids being in daycare. I think its a good experience for them & Mackenzie has learn so much there. But then you have this kind of stuff. I guess you take the good with the bad & hope the good out-weighs the bad in the long run. It just sucks right now...