Maternity Underwear (Male readers feel free to skip this one)

So, I tend to talk alot about the challenges of being pregnant and I thought it was time to say a few words about the rewards. There's feeling the baby move which is amazing, "the glow", having a great excuse to shop and decorate a room, the bond you suddenly feel to other women, being able to have cravings met more readily than ever before and the expansion of your bust line. Those are all great, but I think the biggest perk or shall we say trade off is no period for 9months.
When I first found out I was pregnant I was trying to make a list of positive things about pregnancy and that was the only thing on my list. Amenorrhea (absence of a menstrual period in a woman of reproductive age) has some obvious perks. I put away all that monthly paraphernalia that had been part of my existence and the contents of my purse since I was 13 with a sigh of relief. No more watching the weeks and planning my social life around my menstrual cycle. This, I thought, will be a long vacation.
Apparently, my mother's generation (or maybe just my mother herself) doesn't really have extensive underwear collections. I can tell you that I along with most of my friends have hundreds or pairs, much to our significant others' delight. I'm not talking fancy lingerie just your everyday stuff (although some of it is very pretty). I thought how amazing it would be to wear whichever pair I wanted without having to switch to granny panties for a week every month and was filled with glee. I didn't count on how quickly my expanding uterus would mean I could no longer comfortably wear any of the underwear I owned. I found out I was pregnant at 5 weeks and by 11 weeks I needed new underwear.
The thought of going to Target and getting a $5 pack of white cotton granny panties was a miserable one for me. What is the point of having almost a year off from periods if you can't wear cute underwear? Maybe this is silly to some people, but I've always felt happier and more confident when I am wearing cute underwear. Plus all those pairs I already owned sitting idly by with an ever growing mound of my clothing was depressing and I think a lot of women are cheered up by cute new underwear. So instead of being responsible (which I was perfectly willing to do for maternity clothes) I went to Motherhood and got maternity bikini cut, hipsters and boy short maternity underwear. I am so glad I did. I wasn’t brave enough for maternity thongs although they’re apparently very popular. I still miss my pre-pregnancy stuff, but it's easier to cope with an expanding waistline and stretch marks on your ass with cute underwear (even if no one knows they're there, but me).