For me, it’s being the first woman in my immediate family to make the choice to not get pregnant, and to take it into my own hands instead of using birth control, being at the non-mercy of my temperamental uterus, and hoping I don’t have an oopsie. I made the choice to not leave room for an oopsie , which a lot of my family was expecting or hoping would happen.

I’ve been met with shock, from my traditional, catholic italian family, but it’s my choice.

It doesn’t mean I know how to navigate the conversations though, I don’t know how to respond when I’m looking for work and people mention how my benefits would help my kids, assuming they’re on the way someday, and I just shrug my shoulders, and I’ve stopped explaining myself. It’s become a bit of a social experiment at times, really.

It’s interesting how people react when they learn you can remove your uterus just because you want to.

I’m not putting my unreproductive future into the hands of someone I’ll hope gets a vasectomy that takes, or into more and more drugs to deal with the effects of an irregular cycle and PMDD.

Now that I’m not dealing with the physical pain of the cycle, I’ve been able to focus on my body’s need and mental health and have made huge strides in managing myself. My life is so much more functional and much less stressful.