Avoid bearing children at all costs

On July 4th, 2022 my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Twenty-five years ago, I was focused on finishing up a work project, getting a run in before the ceremony and hoping my sweat glands would not betray me at the courthouse. Having children and starting a family was the farthest thing on my mind that day. I had no idea that I had contracted a virus as a teenager which, in turn, had affected my kidneys. I had no idea that getting pregnant should not have been in my cards. That, had doctors known what was lurking in my body, they would have told me to avoid bearing children at all costs. I had no idea that my kidneys would be the root of HELLP (Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes and Low Platelets) in my first pregnancy and preeclampsia in my second, nor that twenty years down the road I would end up on dialysis, my kidneys so scarred by it all that they were failing. Finally, I had no idea when I ran through the park that day that I would not be spending my silver anniversary strolling a beach with my husband, but on an operating table as one of his kidneys was taken out to help mine. On our wedding day, I had no idea, as most young woman do not, what bearing children and having a family truly means. I had absolutely no idea whatsoever about anything I was saying “yes“ to twenty-five years ago. But, I know now without a doubt, I would say “yes“ to all of it all over again.