Ava was sitting at the table coloring on Tuesday, when I saw something dark in her hair. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a tick. I tried to flick it off with my fingernail, but it seemed firmly attached to her scalp. So I scraped it off with my nail. The little booger tried to get back to her scalp pretty quickly. I went and got a wipe and scraped it off of her scalp into the wipe. It took quite a few pinches to get this tick to stop moving. I put it in a jar of rubbing alcohol and inspected her scalp further. I think I got the entire tick off all at once (the head seemed like it was still attached to its body).
Ava says she remembers itching her head at naptime, so she thinks it was there at that time, too. Knowing this, I would say the tick was on her from 10 a.m., when her class was outside at school until 7:30 p.m. Bummer. We’re heading to the doc tomorrow to be preventative and ask for a course of anti-biotics, just to be safe. I don’t think the tick had yet found a blood supply on her scalp, so that is a good thing.
Having had a tick on me when I was 7-months pregnant with Liam, I am a little less worried, knowing how little it was attached to her. Thank goodness it came off as easily as it did, and hadn’t yet gotten to her blood. A friend said they seem to be more active this year. I know I found the tick on me in May, so it must be this time of year that they are so active.
I will definitely be mentioning this to the day care principal tomorrow, to be sure they are vigilant about it. I’m sure they probably haven’t had an issue in the past, but hopefully now they will be cautious and check everyone.
Please check yourself and your friends EVERY TIME you come in from being out-of-doors!
Peace, love and nervous about ticks,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
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