Hi everyone! I'm hoping someone can help me out with figuring out if I'm freaking out for no reason.
16 days ago, I spent a couple of hours at a friend's house and she had shared that she had dealt with bedbugs in her area rug the week prior. she stated that they were gone, though I'm not sure if that was actually the case, as we didn't discuss details on exterminator, etc. I did sit on her sofa, and my coat and bag were thrown about while I was there.
1.5 days after being there, I developed 2 welts on my face. they were a bit smaller than a dime, all mildly itchy. Sheets were pristine. I had not had welts like this before, so I washed all of my bedding in hot water, washed all of the clothes I was wearing that night in hot water. Tumbled my coat in the dryer and ran a hot hair dryer over my bag and around the hamper where my clothes were.
No activity after that, and then yesterday - which would be 14 days after the initial welts showed up, 16 days after potential exposure, I developed one under my chin and 2 on my lower back on the side within 3 hours of each other. All 3 itchy. again, sheets were pristine, and I tore the bedding up and saw nothing - I have a tempurpedic mattress. I also tore my couch apart, as I noticed both sets of welts developing while I was on my sofa in the early evening, but I did not see anything.
I am wondering if it would be odd for me to bring a hitchhiker home and then have it bite me and then not feed again for seemingly 2 weeks - I understand there may be a delay in reaction, but there was 2 weeks between development of the welts, so I figure that is an accurate timeframe. Also, the location of the welts are in 2 different places this time, so wouldn't that indicate 2 sources?
I'm having a bit of a meltdown, and would appreciate someone with some experience to consider my situation and advise. Thank you so much for reading!