Hi everyone. I'm a mom of two and I'm expecting another baby. We have a kitty who wants to be outside 99% of the time so we let her go out (she's up to date on shots, she's fixed, it's a good neighborhood). I guess her flea medication had wore off because we kept her inside for one night due to a nasty thunderstorm. The following week, I noticed some bites on my ankles. A few days went by and they got worse and worse. My kids were complaining of bites and I started to see the fleas. I went into full-blown panic mode. I first brought my kitty in and gave her a new dose of Advantage, hoping the fleas would jump on her and die (this worked for me in the past with a dog). Sadly, no luck. The problem turned into an infestation and I felt hopeless seeing my kids getting bit. My family kept telling me to use flea bombs but with me being pregnant and having kids in the house, I didn't want to do that because of the lingering chemicals. My fiance (who doesn't live with us yet) researched and found diatomaeceous earth. He bought a big bag of the food-grade stuff and applied it to my carpets.
The DE seemed to work, though it took a while...... he would apply it, let it sit 3-4 days, come back and vacuum it up. Then he'd do it again. He had applied it three times and the fleas seemed to be dying......but then a week went by and I noticed the problem getting worse again (on me - turns out I'm allergic to flea bites because I was getting severe whelps and rashes). He decided to go at it hardcore and spread it on my carpets THICK.....
When it came time to vacuum it up, he was really sick with strep so I decided to do it. Of course the room filled with dust and my mask wasn't doing anything. I also killed my poor vacuum 
so I learned an expensive lesson. I was able to get the majority of it up that was in the walkways of my upstairs (my room, my girls' room, the stairs and the hallway).....but the areas under our beds and furniture were still caked.
With the vacuum dead and a lot of hope lost, my fiance decided to bring over a HUGE shop vac from his work. He went at it in my bedroom, getting the dust under my dresser.....but within seconds, the whole room was full of dust in the air. The shop vac appeared to be spitting it back out......
Now we're unsure what to do. We let the dust fall and we haven't touched it since. I'm feeling distraught and like it's never going to get taken care of. Are the fleas dead? Yeah, they're gone. My feet and ankles are completely scarred but my kids aren't getting bit anymore so that's all that matters.
I'm moving out in a couple months to move in with him in another city and we're getting married. I don't want to leave my carpet behind for the next person in such bad shape. They're going to try and vacuum and be surprised when the room fills with dust. What do I do?
Can I just spray water on the huge piles of DE and use the shop vac? The DE is suuuuuuuuuper thick under the beds and dressers. It looks like it snowed under there. I need help!