How well do you monitor your periods?

Poor Britney Spears can't seem to catch a break. Her tour, while sold out and getting rave reviews, has been riddled with on-stage flubs (cursing, wardrobe malfunctions, you name it), and recently she got into a, um, big mess, with ELLE. Apparently Brit had a photoshoot with the fashion mag and an insider says it was an utter disaster. "They dressed her in all these beautiful couture clothes -- and, well, let's just say she forgot what time of the month it was," says the source. "It wasn't pretty." Yuck.

That has got to be a woman's worst nightmare. Sure, woman bleed, but this incident is pretty humilating and gross. For a long time my periods were so sporadic I never knew what day they they would come, but thankfully I never had an embarrassing accident like Britney. Now I am on the pill, and my monthly visit comes pretty much to the hour every four weeks. I can't tell you how reassuring and helpful that has become.

Do you take careful note of when to expect your monthly period? Do you use a pantyliner or do anything precautionary, or do you just cross your fingers and hope for the best? [NY Post]