Womb Stories Project – Details, episodes & analysis

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 part of our family now. I imagine that after listening to this conversation, you will understand why. 

Visit www.kitaralove.com for intentionally designed and expertly crafted products for safe and easy yoni steaming at home. 

Connect with Kit on IG @bykitara.

Connect with Tiffany Skillings on IG @tworiverslactation and at www.tworiverslactation.com. 

Timestamps

1:38 Tiffany’s Journey to Midwifery

13:59 Midwifery as Holistic Well-Bodied Care

25:07 Expertise in Clinical Midwifery Training

31:20 Midwifery Challenges and Misconceptions

45:47 Elevating Midwifery and Public Education

49:32 Healthcare Costs and Transparency

55:49 Collaboration in Emergency Situations

57:22 Home to Hospital Transfers and C-Section Rates

1:17:11 Importance of Trauma-Informed Care and Debriefing

1:22:28 Intentionality in Client Care and Privacy

1:24:49 Special Moments in Mark's Birth

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 home birth, and how to thrive in postpartum. 

Timestamps

• 3:21 - Connection through Vaginal Steam Certification
• 6:27 - Integration of Steaming Practices
• 12:50 - Magical Pregnancy Experience with Midwife
• 15:12 - Value of Community Support in Birth Care
• 17:32 - Journey into Postpartum Care
• 27:15 - Description of Postpartum Care Services
• 30:56 - Processing Birth Experiences with Doula
• 46:24 - Embracing Empowerment and Boundary Setting
• 1:00:32 - Nurturing Connection to the Womb

Visit www.kitaralove.com for intentionally designed and expertly crafted products for safe and easy yoni steaming at home. 

Connect with Kit on IG @bykitara

Connect with Muriel on IG @heldpostpartum or at www.heldpostpartum.com

Comic, actor, director, podcast host, and my dear sister-in-law. Tig is acclaimed for her honesty, and ability to bring her insightful humor to reflect on the most difficult moments of her life. It was an honor to have Tig on the show, because of the impact she has had on the entertainment industry, and to have the chance to connect with a beloved family member.

This episode is a spacious and vulnerable conversation where we explore the theme of truth-telling.

In This Episode

• 8:40 - Striving for truth while staying connected to self-love
• 19:02 - Navigating moments when you have to choose between authenticity and belonging
• 21:51 - Connecting to how truth feels in the body
• 30:17 - Creating an all-female writing room and some of the shifts happening in Hollywood that allowed for that
• 40:28 - Accessing creativity through the womb space
• 48:29 - Mindfulness exercises and connecting to a higher power
• 59:15 - Reflections on motherhood

This is episode 1 of Womb Stories, and I wanted to welcome Anita Kopacz as my very first guest because she has helped to unlock my own womb story. 

Anita and I first connected on a podcast episode towards the end of 2015, where I was interviewing people about pleasure, and she talked about some of her trauma work. She helped me to understand another dimension of how to understand the victim and survivor story. This changed the course of my life, and it engaged me in my trauma healing in a way I had never experienced before. This episode centers on womb stories and centers the healing aspect of it. 

In This Episode

3:02 - reframing the idea of power through Anita’s womb story

13:21 - tending to wounds through storytelling 

16:38 - when it’s time to seek safety and when it’s time to allow yourself to be uncomfortable 

27:27 - questioning the fear-based imagination while empowering the creative imagination 

29:53 - how to connect with your body and use it as a part of your creative process 

38:18 - using the divine masculine to share what the divine feminine has created 

41:28 - grounding into childhood trauma and seeing it as a blessing 

57:45 - coming into the understanding that black women are the divine 

Quotes

“The beautiful thing about doing trauma work is that we already survived.” 

“It’s almost like trauma is the door we have to go through to get home. And so many of us run from that door, so we are running away from home all the time.” 

Links

Shallow Waters

Zero Efs Given 

Anita Kopacz’s Instagram

Womb Stories shares conversations with renowned activists, creatives, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders as they reveal their journeys back home to the body. This is a show honoring the truth the female body is a gift that brings with it potent power, epic healing potential, and boundless opportunity.

What if we asked our leaders and inspirations, “What is your relationship to your womb? How have you journeyed with her into connection and healing? Do you trust her? Does she speak to you? How do you listen? How would you share her story?

Womb Stories is hosted by Kit Maloney and these are the questions she believes we must start asking. These are the questions we will ask ourselves and each other in a world full of love, equity, and belonging. A world where the female body and women are revered, celebrated, and deeply honored. If you are like us, you agree, it’s time to actively build that world now.

Kit Maloney is also the founder of Kitara (kitaralove.com), which offers beautifully designed and expertly crafted products for safe and easy in-home yoni steaming.

Within the Womb Stories podcast is a sub-series called “Steam Stories.” Here Kit speaks with holistic health practitioners, gynecologists, and members of the Kitara community to share womben’s real-world experience of the benefits of vaginal/ yoni steaming.

We are deeply grateful to our listeners for supporting our vision of a co-created world full of love and belonging to our bodies, to each other, and to our Earth.  

Follow on IG @bykitara and @wombstoriesproject  

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 beginning of the conception journey
• 9:22 - Clearing the obstacles to discover the desire for motherhood
• 13:45 - Intimacy struggles during the conception journey
• 18:13 - Lessons learned about steaming processes during conception
• 21:26 - Navigating pregnancy loss
• 38:13 - Returning to the conception journey after pregnancy loss
• 1:01:04 - Highlights of the healing process in Mexico
• 1:08:07 - Stepping into another fertility journey

Today is the first anniversary of the birth of my son, so I am kicking off season 2 of Womb Stories Project with a series of interviews with the people present for my son’s birth. This episode is a reflection on the birth experience and the practice of condensing the birth plan into one simple mantra.

The next season of Womb Stories Project will feature the sisters who held me during my conception journey, my primary midwife, assistant midwife, and my birth doula. We will also speak with my doctor, my husband, and my parents.

Today’s interview is with Sabia Wade. I first connected with Sabia several years ago when I learned of their various initiatives in support of black maternal health several years ago. Sabia’s organization, For the Village, does incredible work for marginalized birthing groups. It is beautifully aligned with the mission of The Kitara Fund. If you don’t know, I set up The Kitara Fund even before I launched our yoni steam products on kitaralove.com Through the Kitara Fund, we honor Kitara’s promise of sharing 1% of our revenue on every single item sold with Black-led community initiatives advancing birthing rights and maternal health in disenfranchised populations. It’s a privilege to support Sabia’s initiatives, as well as others, through the Kitara Fund. 

This conversation was actually recorded about six months ago. It was back during the end of my pregnancy when I secretly thought I’d be back at work within weeks of birthing our son… I hope to have the opportunity to share more of my birthing experience and postpartum journey in future episodes but for now, I’ll just say that I am grateful for the space to slow down, trust a different pace, and savor the snuggles. 

About Sabia Wade

So today we get to hear from Sabia, not just about their work with For the Village but about their mission as a Black, Queer, CEO to build bridges for a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable world through Reproductive Justice, distribution of financial wealth to BIPOC communities, and investing in emergent and innovative businesses.

Honestly, there are so many parts of this discussion that blew me away. Sabia’s cool, grounded, determination to expand and expand and to create change through system overhauls is profound and inspiring. You’ll hear moments where I am speechless at the capacity of their imagination and gumption. 

Balancing Pleasure with Productivity 

Sabia reflects on how she sets boundaries and nourishes herself in a world where slowing down isn’t always an option. She shares how true happiness for her comes from true satisfaction over instant gratification. In today’s world, there is a lack of time for integration in a world filled to the brim with content to absorb. Sabia’s wisdom and practice help guide her through the world as it is today, and maybe you can pick up some tips from her. 

Creating a Value-Led Career 

Sabia is a doula who also runs a trucking company. No matter what she does, she embodies her values. She takes her knowledge as a doula to a diverse array of spaces and disciplines, while always being authentic to herself. She never wanted to be pidgeon-holed as a doula, who can only ever work and speak in spaces related to doulas. The way Sabia speaks about her work is inspiring, and maybe you can embody some of it in your own career. 

In The Episode

• 12:30 - The importance of slowing down and investing in pleasure
• 21:37 - The reality behind social media
• 38:52 - Being value led so your business and career can adapt to you as you grow
• 52:53 - Taking a pause at different levels of your career
• 1:05:46 - History of black and brown midwives and the industrialization of birth

If you are listening to this near the release date, I’m now ever so gently dipping my toes back into the waters of work after a beautiful cocoon of postpartum time. Our baby boy arrived the morning of May 22. He is a gem, we are wildly smitten new parents, and I look forward to sharing the journey of our home birth with you here on Womb Stories Project in a future episode. 

Today’s interview is with Madam CJ who has a dynamic, bold, and compelling story of womb healing. She also celebrates her use of yoni steaming to support her fibroid release and passing fibroids naturally. In this episode, Madam CJ also shares her journey of connecting to her innate and natural beauty as well as finding freedom through sensuality and dance. 

Like many of our episodes on Womb Stories Project, the conversation takes us beyond a particular diagnosis and into a deeply real conversation about the profound ripple effect that womb space health and healing have on one's life and community. 

Healing Your Body from Fibroids

Madam CJ was diagnosed with fibroids when she was 35 years old. Her grandmother used to suffer from fibroids, so she knew something was wrong when she started experiencing similar symptoms. The surgery and intensive recovery period were inaccessible to her, so she threw herself into natural remedies and emotional healing to heal her own fibroids.

Vaginal Steaming Practices for Fibroids

A commitment to extreme self-care inspired Madame CJ to order her own steam seat. She has a home vaginal steaming process where she steams every day so that she isn’t bleeding. Vaginal tissues are extremely absorbent, so Madam CJ reflects on how her yoni steaming practice has helped her to recover from multiple illnesses, including her fibroids.

Eliminating Toxic Skincare to Prevent Fibroids

Soaps, hair products, nail polish, hair color, and even feminine hygiene products have xenoestrogens that feed fibroids. Eliminating these products and releasing the beauty standards that keep women hooked on these products is essential to fibroid healing and prevention. Madam CJ reflects on her journey of learning how to make her own natural soaps and embracing her natural look.

In This Episode

• 4:20 - Madam CJ’s experience with fibroids and her healing journey
• 11:31 - Why the surgery isn’t the right solution for a lot of women
• 17:10 - Madam CJ’s current fibroid journey and the healing practices she keeps in her daily life
• 27:30 - Eliminating toxic skincare products that are linked to fibroids - particularly in the black community
• 36:28 - Madam CJ’s home vaginal steaming practice
• 50:14 - Being able to ask for and receive help when healing from fibroids
• 1:01:22 - Dance and the womb healing gifts it offers

Links

Find Madam CJ on Instagram

Shop Madam CJ's soaps

Use code madamlove at KitaraLove.com

Steaming for post-partum recovery is often only spoken about for vaginal deliveries, but Blaney booked a steam session to heal from her c-section. She was also seeking support in her recovery from obstetric violence. Today, we will go into what obstetric violence means, and how that term supports women by putting a name to what they may have experienced. 

In this episode, we center on Blaney’s healing. Part of that involves naming the trauma and telling her story. So as you go into the episode, I encourage you to check in with yourself. Is this the right time for you to go in-depth on the topic of obstetric violence? If you feel a full-body yes, then I hope you find this episode supportive. If this topic isn’t right for you at this moment in your journey, then we will have new episodes of womb stories soon.

In This Episode

• 5:41 - What led Blaney to seek a steaming session after her c-section
• 14:04 - Blaney’s four birth stories and her experience with obstetric violence
• 25:21 - How to validate yourself and navigate systemic violence as a pregnant person
• 34:08 - What worked and didn’t work for Blanley on her healing journey
• 56:05 - Being integrated into the community around you while also navigating those who are in different parts of their healing journey
• 1:00:55 - Additional thoughts and healing messages from Blaney

Resources Mentioned

Find Kitara Love on Instagram

Download the Free Guide to Yoni Steaming