(Uh, don't read this if bugs freak you out because I go into a lot of details - I'm sorry!)

You guys, I am freaking out. This morning when I got out of bed, I felt something itchy on my lower back (just below my underwear line). I scratched at this little lump and next thing I know, THERE IS A BUG IN MY HAND.

I was still mostly asleep and the first thing I thought was "this is not a flea" (not that we have fleas, but I have dogs and fleas happen sometimes) and then I thought "and if this is a bed bug, it is the world's largest bed bug." I have a major bed bug phobia (even though I don't live in a big city and it's not really an issue here) so I was sort of relieved that it was too big to be a bed bug. Somehow, I kept my calm, ordered the dogs out of bed and downstairs, deposited the mystery bug (THAT HAD THESE DISGUSTING LEGS THAT WERE MOVING) onto the bed and grabbed my phone to take a picture. I still can't believe that I wasn't screaming and freaking out at this point. I think that I must have thought if I could get a picture of it, I could take it to one of the naturalists at work and maybe they'd be able to identify it.

In the meantime, I take a shower (wait, first I disposed of the body, obviously!) and realize that it's probably a tick because we went walking near the woods with one of our dogs on Sunday. You guys, I am not even a nature-y person! I seriously venture into nature ONE TIME and I somehow get a tick on myself. Actually, I think Helo probably had the tick on him and it jumped onto me, but STILL. Our dogs are up-to-date on their flea & tick meds, but I am nervous that there are more on them. My husband and I are going to look them over really carefully tonight.

At work I showed the picture to a bunch of co-workers (not naturalists, just regular marketing girls like me) and everyone thinks it's definitely a tick. Also, we think the head is visible in the picture and I guess that's important. Oh, and also, because we're very intimate in this office, haha, we all crowded into the bathroom and I pulled down my pants so they could look at the spot where the bug was (since it was red this morning, I circled it with a pen because that seemed like a good idea at the time). It is still red and itchy but everyone seems to think it looks ok.

Regardless, I called my doctor's office and talked to a nurse. She's going to talk to my doctor and find out if he wants to see me. I told her that we're trying to get pregnant, in case that makes a difference (I'm 2 dpo today).

So anyway, has this ever happened to anyone else? Did you freak out like me? Did you spend the rest of the day washing your hands a million times? Did you have to see a doctor (and if so, what did the doctor do?)

**oh and I put this in TRAVEL because the idea of putting a thread about ticks under HOME made me want to throw up**