THE BASICS:

Hospital bag lists generally list disposable briefs as a 'must take' if you're to avoid ruining your pretty frilly knickers with the blood loss (because clearly when you're in the later stages of pregnancy what you're trying to do is seduce your husband with sexy coordinated underwear).

Boots are one of a small number of retailers (Mothercare is the only one I can immediately recall) that stock these. The Boots disposable briefs are in packs of five, in the cardboard box shown in the image (note the lack of picture - that's for a reason!) and come in three sizes: 10/12, 14/16 and 18/20, each individually wrapped (something of an eco nightmare if you ask me, given that you'd expect your hospital bag to be a pretty clean environment!). They cost £2.20.

THE LOOK:

Net-like polypropylene with an elasticated waist-band, these are unattractive BIG PANTS, supposedly coming right up to the belly button (though not, unfortunately, for the 5"11 me). The idea is that they don't rub up against a C-section scar (if you have one) and effectively encapsulate all of your left over floppy skin (nice!)

They're rather on the big side in terms of fit too, so although you don't want to buy a size that pinches, you also don't want to end up with them falling down.......!!

In short.... I wouldn't want my husband to see me in them (even by way of comparison with those I was wearing in pregnancy....).

WHAT DO I THINK?

To ensure the right fit I'd be much more inclined (next time) to buy big pants from M&S or Primark. However, you'd want to be sure that whatever you did buy were as capable of the disposables of holding a stack of maternity pads! I'd also go for dark, rather than the white colour of these: not because anyone else is going to see them, but because I don't really want to see what's coming out (so to speak).....