So here's my little rant for the day...

I came home from the grocery store yesterday threatening to not go out in public for the rest of this pregnancy. I've had it...I am tired of feeling like a walking freak show for everyone to comment on!

I was buying groceries and a woman and passed me in the aisle. Her eyes bugged out when she saw me and she shouted, "You're going to pop any second!", like I was going to endanger her life by literally exploding right next to her. Everyone turned around to look, I was so mortified. At least 4 more people said something to me as they passed me, and everyone in the checkout line was commenting to me as well.

When I take the dog out for his daily walk people can't seem to believe that I'm actually out moving around. I get a lot of comments on the trail near our house. People jog by and shout things at me like, "Boy, not long now!"

It seems like 1 out of every 5 people I pass will either say, "Almost there, eh!" or "Ready to go any minute, I see!" or something similar. I usually reply that I still have three more weeks to go (if I say anything at all) and then I get an expression of disbelief and pity. Ugh, I am so tired of it!

My coworkers threw me a maternity-leave party at work before I left, and plenty of people were commenting on what a big belly I have. I didn't mind too much, but then a woman who just came back from maternity leave came up from me and she looked right at my belly and said, "Wow, that thing is HUGE. I mean really...HUGE!!" And she of all people...she was so big for several months before she went out on leave that people seriously thought that she was having twins, or puppies! ;-) She couldn't even wear maternity clothes, she just wore big tent-like dresses. And she's calling *me* huge! D'oh!

Even Dan is getting in on it. He always kisses and pats my belly, but the other day he grabbed it with both hands and said, "Wow, I can't believe it. It's just SO big!"
OK, he says it in a proud way, because he is happy about having a big strapping baby boy, but he also just can't believe that my belly is *that* damn big!

Arrgh. I am getting a little bit crabby about all the commentary, can you tell? I know it's all perfectly normal, human-nature kind of thing, and hey, it really IS an enormously big belly, it even surprises me and I look at it every day. But dang it, I feel like I should just join a circus or something! OK, end of my rant on that...

I had my first chiropractor appointment the other day to fix me up after the Dog Chasing Episode that crippled me for two weeks. I am completely sold!

Every day I would take the dog for a walk of a little over an hour, and by the time I came back I could barely move for the rest of the day. My pelvis felt shattered, shooting pains were coming down from my hip into my back, I felt like I had an abdominal hernia rupturing in front, and my right groin muscle was pulling tight as a drum. Yeah, just as much fun as it sounds.

So I went in to see the chiropractor recommended by my midwife. She put me face-down on a special pregnant table with room for my belly, pulled on each one of my legs, felt my lower spine and she told me that my tailbone was pulled to the right. She took some kind of clicking, snapping thing (I couldn't see it) and snapped it against my back to the right of my tailbone and lower spine in several places. Then I turned over and she gave me another quick exam, and said everything looked good, the problem seemed to have been based in my tailbone. When it pulled to one side, it pulled my lower back muscles on one side, and the muscles/ligaments that wrap around my hip, and even the groin muscles on that same side. So all my pains were caused by that stupid tailbone being out of whack.

She then had me point and flex my feet while deep breathing, yoga-style. While I did that, she took my head in her hands and applied a LOT of pressure to certain points/counterpoints on my head and neck, it hurt quite a bit at times, but then started to feel good. Then she had me get up and walk around to see if the pain had lessened. It had, quite a bit, but I still felt a pull in my back. I laid down again and she did more of the same. When I got up the next time the pulling sensation was completely gone. I couldn't believe it!

What she did is called "Vector Point Cranial Therapy", I don't really understand how it works, but wow, what results! I have been on the same walks for the past two days and no crippling pain anymore in any of those areas. My back still gets a bit sore, but hey, I'm still 37 weeks pregnant carrying a big ole belly around in front of me, I'm not going to go out and be able to run a marathon or anything. But all the pains that I experienced after chasing the dog are gone completely. I feel SO much better and am no longer hobbling/limping around like an old woman. Now I'm back to just my basic waddle. ;-)

Time for breakfast...featherweight whole-wheat pancakes. They are delicious! Light, nutty, and amazingly good for you. I replace some of the whole-wheat flour with toasted wheat germ and ground flaxseed meal for maximum nutritional benefit (tastes good too), and I use sweet butter and real Canadian Grade A maple syrup. Dan loves them too, and he's not a big pancake fan. The secret is the white vinegar. You can't taste it at all but it makes the pancakes rise up beautifully and turn out really fluffy and light.

FEATHERWEIGHT WHOLE WHEAT PANCAKES

Ingredients needed:

2 cups whole wheat flour (if you have toasted wheat germ or flaxseed meal you can replace 1/2 cup of the flour with it)

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, well beaten

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 3/4 cups milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Sift flour, baking soda, sugar and salt together. Combine eggs, vinegar, milk and oil and mix well.

Add dry ingredients to the liquid and stir only until smooth. Pour batter from the tip of a large spoon onto large frying pan or griddle. When underside is browned and before bubbles burst on top, turn and brown the second side. Serves 2-4 hungry adults.

Enjoy!