Fibroids and Alternatives to Hysterectomy?

I am 35 and am being sent for an ultrasound to see if my extremely heavy periods are being caused by fibroids. I have been married for a year and my husband and I might want children, but I want to return to school next year to take a 2 year course first so I can get a better job before we have kids. Most of the info I've read about fibroids says hysterectomy is the normal course for this disease. 90% of the women in my family have had to have them. I simply refuse. My question is, other than annoying symptoms, or possibly pain, is there any other severe risk of just leaving them be? I was reading that they can sometimes shrink of their own accord at menopause. If it turns out that I have them, can I just live with them until I go through menopause? I have personal and religious reasons for not wanting to have my reproductive organs removed. Could this be fatal? Even if it was, it wouldn't change my mind, I would just like to know.