Sometimes life will smack you upside the head and other times you only get subtle clues.

During the past few months I’ve had both.

There was that subtle clue while we were in the airport in Las Vegas in early April on our way back from vacation. My husband and I walked by an Auntie Anne’s pretzel kiosk and the most awful smell wafted from it: pepperoni pretzels.

The odor turned my stomach. Now, at the time I knew it was odd since I love pizza and pepperoni, but after that moment I didn’t think much of it. I also didn’t have a repeat of the incident.

Or in mid-March when there were a few days in a row that I experience some mild nausea. I chalked it up to one of the three medications I took at the time to help control my blood sugar. One of the side effects is queasiness.

Then there was the constant heart burn all through March. But I’ve always had a sensitive stomach and other diabetics I know blame that on another medication I take to manage my diabetes.

There were some other clues early on in my pregnancy that I just didn’t notice. Not because I wasn’t looking since my husband and I were trying to start a family. It’s just I didn’t experience any obvious clues and definitely not the ones I expected.

Everyone tells me the first trimester is generally miserable. But I didn’t really start to think something was up until mid-April. I didn’t have morning sickness and for some reason I was counting on that signal, which usually pops up at about six weeks, to let me know I was pregnant.

Instead, in mid-April I started experiencing a couple of other signs, so I did a little reading and I thought, well then I guess I am pregnant. But those clues, based on my research, were indicators of early pregnancy.

Proof positive you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the Internet.

I went to my first appointment and after I got a thorough exam I was told I was probably six to eight weeks pregnant.

A week later life smacked me upside the head with the big surprise when I went for my first ultrasound: I was 16 weeks along not eight as I thought.

Whoa!

And then the ultrasound technician let us hear the baby’s heart beat, who looked like a little baby and not a blob as I had expected, and I choked up.

This is a good surprise. I’m due Nov. 19. So somehow I managed to cruise through all but the last two weeks of the first trimester without a problem.

On the other hand I freaked out a little bit because I do drink a lot of caffeine. And I wasn’t sure if the multi-vitamin I have been taking for a while had enough folic acid. And what about some of the medications I take to control my blood sugar?

My husband keeps me reminding me that the ultrasound technician said everything looked good, the baby’s heart rate was in the normal range, and no one’s said anything other than positive comments on the medical side.

So, of course, like the person who doesn’t take to heart the concept that doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result is crazy, I ran back to the Internet and began reading up on the things that worried me.

Then I went to see my endocrinologist. That didn’t help. See Dennis Box’s Our Corner from last week’s issue for an illustration as to why.

Add to that all the wonderful, well-meaning comments from folks ranging from congratulations to the worst pregnancy horror stories they’ve ever heard. I watch TLC. I’ve seen countless episodes of ‘A Baby Story.’ I have a good friend who lost twins at 12 weeks shortly before I found that I am expecting.

I know all about that stuff and frankly it’s killing my mommy-to-be excitement buzz.

The best surprise I’ve had lately is all the women I know who are moms have been giving me great advice and it’s been very reassuring.

Still, I may want to learn some new relaxation techniques. I can’t imagine me being all amped up is good for the baby.

But the thing that is most reassuring is feeling the little one move. The baby is getting more and more active. I started feeling those first movements, better known as flutters, about two weeks ago. Now they’re starting to feel like kicks sometimes. I wonder if the kid is taking karate in there. Ha!

I guess this is what parenting is about. Surprises of all kinds and worrying all the time.

Our next big surprise will come whenever I go back for another ultrasound. Pretty soon we’ll know if it’s a boy or a girl.

We want to do a ‘Guess the Sex’ contest on the Reporter Web site and I think that would be a lot of fun. What do you think?

Let’s all be surprised together.