Avoiding Unnecessary C-Section: Self Advocacy for Hospital Births and Healing from Coercion
Release Date: 04/17/2026
Diagnosed with Fibroids: I Knew What To Do
Womb Stories Project
For her second delivery, Lilliana Rivera did everything within her power for a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), yet had another C-section delivery. In the years following she had a scar that felt as thick as an electrical cord, shooting pain, numbness, and a general disconnection to her body. When she got on the abdominal massage table, she was shocked to discover her physical symptoms disappeared — and living dormant in her tissues was an intense feeling of guilt. In her womb space, the unprocessed emotions from that second C-section still lingered unmet, untouched, and unprocessed....
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Abortion: An Unconventional View with Juliana Rose Goldstone
Womb Stories Project
Kit Maloney, founder of Kitara has been advocating for reproductive choice and freedom for over 20 years. Yet this conversation is like none she's ever had before. As womb healers, Juliana and Kit hope to broaden the conversations we’re “allowed” to have around reproductive choice and freedoms – and the physical, emotional, and spiritual impact that may have, honoring that everybody's journey is unique and special. Pregnancy termination is a controversial, taboo, and polarizing subject that can bring up a lot of strong beliefs and big feelings. The commonness of abortion...
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Avoiding Unnecessary C-Section: Self Advocacy for Hospital Births and Healing from Coercion
Womb Stories Project
In this episode of Womb Stories Project, Kit Maloney, founder of Kitara, shares her raw birth story on a phone call with two sisters… just 3 weeks after giving birth (in her 40s) to a healthy baby girl. An incorrect ultrasound report shows Kit’s baby in transverse position and completely derails her home birth plans. What followed was the very real possibility of an emergency C-section. Her work with Kitara informed that moment. She recognized the pattern because she had heard it so many times. “Everything was fine, and then suddenly it became an emergency C-section.” With an...
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Reclaiming Pleasure after Chronic Infection, Pelvic Pain & Trauma
Womb Stories Project
Chaya Leia Aronson of Your Sacred Pelvis shares her powerful journey from chronic bladder infections and interstitial cystitis to living pain-free and deeply connected to her womb. After years of pelvic pain, invasive medical experiences, and being told there was no solution, Chaya turned to natural healing, including herbal medicine, diet and lifestyle changes, Mayan Abdominal Massage, and Yoni Steaming. Through this work, she not only resolved her symptoms but reclaimed pleasure, nervous system regulation, and trust in her body. We discuss how pelvic pain and uterine disorders are often...
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Over the Steam Pot, Everything Changed
Womb Stories Project
Yoni steaming offers a gentle, effective approach to healing period pain naturally. In this episode of Womb Stories Project, Natalie Elliott shares how yoni steaming helped end years of severe period pain and opened a new relationship with her body and menstrual cycle. Natalie shares her journey from severe cramps, dissociation, and trauma to discovering yoni steaming as the pathway to releasing, healing, and coming to live in deep alignment with her cycle and her womb. What began as a personal healing practice of resting while bleeding became the foundation of her work as a women’s...
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Healing the Father Wound: Minerals, Yoni Steaming and Nervous System Regulation with Yasmine Minnifield
Womb Stories Project
In this powerful transmission, Yasmine Minnifield, founder of Womb of Peace, joins Kit Maloney for a profound exploration of the Father Wound and how healing our inner masculine is a path to feminine restoration. Yasmine shares how wounding to our inner masculine affects our sense of safety, openness to intimacy, and feeling worthy of provision and protection - often showing up as overfunctioning, burnout, or a hard, protective shell. She maps the energetics of the wound onto the body through mineral imbalances, offering a tangible, multidimensional pathway to healing through herbal...
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Fibroids, Refusing Hysterectomy, and the Healing Power of Yoni Steaming with Miara Pack
Womb Stories Project
Far too often we hear the same story, a woman gets diagnosed with fibroids and is told her only option is a full hysterectomy. In this interview, Kit Maloney and Rachel Rose talk with Miara Pack, who shares her journey of saying no to the white coat and bravely charting her own course. Miara opens up about her experience with painful cycles and dismissive doctors and her choice to pursue natural healing: yoni steaming, breathwork, and lifestyle changes alongside western medical care. A cornerstone of her healing was her connection with Kit, the founder of Kitara, whose compassionate presence...
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Meet Our Midwife
Womb Stories Project
Welcome to another episode of Season 2 of Womb Stories Project, a series of conversations with people involved in the home birth of our son. This is a really important conversation as part of this series because it is with the incredibly wise and amazingly wonderful Tiffany Skillings, who is a midwife and was my midwife through our fertility journey, throughout my pregnancy, and the primary midwife in the delivery of our son at our home. I can't say enough about Tiffany. She is an incredible gift to the birthing community here in Maine, to me and my family, and we really consider her...
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What is a Postpartum Doula? And why everyone needs one.
Womb Stories Project
We live in an era of women over-giving and under-receiving. Data shows it is not working for us. Postpartum depression/anxiety is at unprecedented rates and we currently are offering new parents too few options for support. Listen in to hear an expanded perspective on what it means to receive in the earliest days of motherhood. Season 2 of Womb Stories Project is a collection of interviews with the people who were involved in my conception, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey. It is for the listener curious about holistic and non-hormonal fertility treatments, the ins and outs of...
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Fear, Faith, and Fertility: My Conception Journey
Womb Stories Project
Season 2 of Womb Stories Project will be a collection of interviews with the people who were involved in my conception, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey. And it all kicks off on the one-year anniversary of the birth of my son. The first episode features an interview with Rachel, an incredible healer who held me in her heart as I navigated a humbling conception journey. Please be advised miscarriage is discussed in this interview, so please take care of your heart and listen only if you feel the discussion will be healing. Timestamps 5:14 - The desire to have a baby and the...
info_outlineIn this episode of Womb Stories Project, Kit Maloney, founder of Kitara, shares her raw birth story on a phone call with two sisters… just 3 weeks after giving birth (in her 40s) to a healthy baby girl.
An incorrect ultrasound report shows Kit’s baby in transverse position and completely derails her home birth plans. What followed was the very real possibility of an emergency C-section.
Her work with Kitara informed that moment. She recognized the pattern because she had heard it so many times. “Everything was fine, and then suddenly it became an emergency C-section.” With an EPIC labor support team ( her husband and midwife ) and years experience in women’s health and advocacy, Kit was able to have an unmedicated hospital birth within a highly medicalized system.
But what if she didn't? Her experience speaks to the importance of support in hospital birth, patient advocacy during labor, and how challenging it can be to navigate informed consent and avoid unnecessary birth interventions.
At one point, the situation escalated to threats of the Department of Health and Human Services being called. Kit found herself wondering, “how am I going to get out of here?” What followed wasn’t just about getting through the experience, but what it meant to come out the other side of it with a sense of agency and wholeness.
Birth trauma is real. Kit has come to see that a huge part of trauma prevention is being able to process more quickly. To be witnessed and affirmed almost in the moment of it can set you up for a totally different recovery.
This episode reaffirms the “why” behind the Womb Stories Project. Sharing our stories is an invaluable piece of spreading awareness, education, and advocacy within the women's health and wellness world. If this resonates, like, subscribe and share your birth story below in the comments.
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