Paranoia or sense??

[gothgirl77]

Hoped some of you lovely ladies could reassure me one way or another..
It's been snowing constantly in our area for the last few weeks and while the main road through our village has been gritted, the roads around our flat have turned into several inches of solid ice (no slush sadly). I'm now 25 weeks and before Christmas had a nasty fall after slipping on the ice, which has thrown my back out - the GP assures me it's a sprain that will get better on its own but it still hurts a fair bit.
Since then, even a couple of steps outside have me skidding around like a maniac, and with the bump I have no balance at all. I'm normally pretty independent but I'm now terrified to leave the flat without DH in case I fall again. He's been away with work for a while and I haven't dared step outside for ages - which makes me feel guilty about not clearing the ice myself (like we're all supposed to apparently).
Am I being completely paranoid/ hormonal or taking sensible precautions? This isn't at all like me - before the original fall I was very much 'pregnancy isn't an illness and I'm not a vulnerable person' but I'm scared now..

you are allowed to be neurotic anxious when you are pg

how long is it since you left the house?

when is your Dh back? why didnt he clear the paths himself? cant one of your neighbours do it?

My DH heard on Radio4 that if you don't have grit/salt to put on ice you can use cat litter. It sits on top of the ice and as we have a cat was easy to hand. He has put some on the paths here and it has given some grip so I can get to the car safely. Much better than him trying to pickaxe it out the way which would be what it would take to get it moved as there's so much. I was very sceptical but it had worked a dream. Worth a try maybe if you can get some delivered?

Mind you, I'm 34+6 and slipped in the shower last week pulling my pelvis, so while you can be careful you an never have all angles covered

Roll on the thaw...

You are taking sensible precautions. After a fall like that the issue is not merely that the roads are slippery for everyone but your heightened anxiety levels mean you probably aren't as good at recovering your balance when you do start to slip.

I used to be a keen off-road runner and my hobby is winter-mountaineering so until this winter I have always felt pretty confident in slippery conditions. But I had a bad accident before Christmas and am currently 23 weeks pregnant and I find that as soon as I start to slip my mind is filled with images of head injuries and ambulances which make me panic and wobble even more. I think I need to address this by practising falling over but now is quite clearly not the time! You will be feeling even more agitated if your back is still giving you pain, because the twinges will trigger the anxiety too. Now is not the time to try and 'harden the fuck up', now is the time to make sure your back is healing nicely and think nice calming thoughts!

If you can you should ask a neighbour to clear the road but don't fret about it. Certainly if your neighbours expect a pregnant woman to go out and dig the ice off the road then they are mad - I'm sure they don't.