Sorry to hear about your bug hunt ordeal. I have had a similar bed-bug problem once; albeit on a smaller scale. Catching them turned out to be simple in my case. Hopefully this will be useful to someone:
I used a mosquito net which tied on top of the bed and wrapped around the edges of the mattress. I left the net always wrapped around the mattress even when I was not sleeping-in. I found that the bed-bugs would eventually accumulate at the top of the net. Everyday, a couple of them would be found there and I just had to eliminate those.
After about a month, they had all been trapped and exterminated, and the infestation had died.
Nice tip. Can you elaborate on how you setup the net though? Was it hanging from the ceiling when you say "tied on the top of the bed", forming a tent like structure and the bugs would crawl to the pinnacle? What time of day would you find them and kill them?
I don't accurately remember the time of day that I would find them (it was about a decade back). My vague memory is that it was in the morning, after waking up.
I used a mosquito net which tied on top of the bed and wrapped around the edges of the mattress. I left the net always wrapped around the mattress even when I was not sleeping-in. I found that the bed-bugs would eventually accumulate at the top of the net. Everyday, a couple of them would be found there and I just had to eliminate those.
After about a month, they had all been trapped and exterminated, and the infestation had died.