It happened when Esther Brooks was sleeping.

“Honey something is biting me in the back and look at this,” she said.

But when Bobby Brooks decided to strip the couple’s sheets - “I was a little suspicious,” he said.

What he found were not mosquitoes, but bed bugs: Tiny, bloodsucking creatures that hide anywhere from mattresses, to drawers and even crevices.

In the Brooks’ case, the bugs were hiding in the folds of his mattress.

“I was not very happy,” Brooks said. “This is what I need right now.” Their newborn baby was sleeping right next to their bed.

Like the Brooks, most of us have probably never seen bed bugs. You’re more likely to see their effects, and experts say the creatures are making a huge comeback.

Entomologist Dr. Grady Glenn has been studying for insects for 31 years.

He said thanks to insecticides, bed bugs were almost eradicated in the United States.

But their recent resurgence is tied to international travel.

Bed bugs are hitching a ride from places like Europe, Asia and the Middle East, where bed bugs still thrive.

“They could go a hotel, stay one night, pick up bed bugs in their luggage,” Dr. Glenn said. “They can transfer from the bed or the nightstand, and you carry it home to your own structure.”

AP

A bed bug engorged with blood after feeding on a human arm.

In fact the National Pest Management Association reports a 71 percent increase in the number of bed bug complaints across the country.

In Texas it’s unclear how many complaints the states consumer protection division has received.

But several local pest control companies said more and more calls are coming in about bed bugs.

Brooks turned the couple’s bedroom upside down to make sure bed bugs weren’t hiding in other places besides his bed.

In the end, the couple hired an exterminator to treat their room, for their own sake and the sake of their baby.