Jade van der Hoorn - Midwife

07/02/2026

Some fantastic words of affirmation for support people to use during the labour 👇

05/02/2026

I am excited to have Britney starting her final year placement with me from the 2nd March - 26th April 💫

At Manaaki Midwives we love supporting and guiding our future midwives that is why Britney will also be back with Shari later in the year to finish out her final year of study before becoming a New Graduate Midwife next year!! You may catch Britney at and running clinics during her placement dates above, alongside postnatal visits with consent and for those that are happy, at the birth too!

Students can be involved as much or as little as each whānau decide and are thoroughly supported and guided by us here at Manaaki in all they do!
We appreciate those who are taking the time to consider student involvement or happy for Britney to be involved throughout your hapūtanga (pregnancy) 💚

Looking forward to having you on board Britney! 💫

03/02/2026

Would you consider a 1st year student midwife following through and observing your pregnancy experience and potentially birth and postpartum?

See below 👇

We have a new cohort of student midwives beginning their studies in two weeks! They will be looking to support whānau expecting a baby in our communities from March 2026 onwards.
If you or someone you know is pregnant, is due from March 2026 onwards, and would like to have a first year student, please contact us. Our Bachelor of Midwifery programme has students based in Dunedin, Southland, Central Otago, greater Wellington including Wairarapa, Whanganui, and Palmerston North.
What's in it for you?
* You will have extra support and companionship during your pregnancy and childbirth experience.
* The first-year students are keen to learn how you and your whānau experience pregnancy.
* You are in charge and can decide what you want to share with the student, and our students will be supervised by a lecturer/kaiako at the School of Midwifery.
* Help future generations of midwives to follow through with you and your whānau in a supportive role during pregnancy, childbirth and the early weeks at home with your baby.
Are you interested and due from March 2026?
Please fill in the consent form online here, and our School will be in touch with you in the new year. https://forms.office.com/r/MxKMEK0JT4

Please share this post to your networks. :)

19/01/2026

Did someone say more LMCs across the Hutt Valley?
Check out these wonderful wahine joining the LMC workforce here in the Hutt from the 1st February!

Very exciting that we will have more options for whānau across the region when it comes to midwifery care and providers! You will find a few of them on find your midwife already but otherwise contact info in the post! 💚💫

13/01/2026

💚💫 Hunters post-dates induction and forceps delivery 💫💚

Thank you to the whānau for sharing!

"On 24 September 2023, at 1pm, I was admitted to hospital for induction, 9 days past my due date! Our little man was clearly in no rush to make his entrance! Monitoring began at 2pm, and the balloon was inserted at 6:49pm. It came out on its own at 11:49pm, and by just after midnight I was experiencing mild contractions. I was assessed at 12:05am and was already 4cm dilated.

Contractions intensified quickly. I received an epidural at 1:30am, and by 3am I had progressed to 7cm. Shortly after, I began contracting every three minutes. Around 3:40am, I developed a sudden temperature spike, and Hunter’s heart rate rose to 195bpm, so terbutaline was given to slow the contractions while they worked to stabilise my temperature.

Once everything settled and was normal again, labour was restarted with syntocin via a drip at 5:45am. I received an epidural top-up at 8:30am and reached full dilation by 12pm. I pushed for an hour before obstetrics were called in and reviewed me and observed a further 30 minutes of pushing assisted by my midwife Jade.

With Hunter still not descending and his heart rate becoming a higher than they liked, the team prepared and consented me for an assisted delivery. Forceps were placed, an episiotomy was performed, and our little man finally arrived at 3:03pm on 25 September 2023, weighing 7.7lb.

I used three tanks of gas and two bags of the epidural, but was up in a wheelchair and walking within the hour. Hunter spent his first night in SCBU as he needed some help with his breathing post the birth, and after two nights in hospital, we went home, our hearts overflowing with love.

A massive, heartfelt thank you to my incredible midwife, Jade, for her unwavering support, guidance, and care throughout the entire journey. I truly couldn’t have done it without you! ✨️🩵"

If you have had a birth experience supported by any of our team at Manaaki Midwives and would love to share, We would love to hear it! Normalising all the differing birth stories one by one 💚💫

08/01/2026

💚💫 Just a PSA I will not be taking October clients as I am on leave for a whānau wedding from 12th October - 1st November!

So pause the baby making this month if you want me as a midwife.. 😜

I will be taking clients again from the 11th November as we have the no clients due 10 days either side of leave to make sure were available for our clients births as much as we can be!

I have a couple spaces left for mid - late September still but have booked up for early September! 💚💫

19/12/2025

💚💚🌲🌲💚💚

As the year comes to a close, We at Manaaki Midwives want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! To current clients, old clients and our colleagues across the board we hope you have a safe Christmas and take time to fill your cup! Thank you for letting us support and work alongside yous - forever grateful.

198 families supported this year into bringing there pēpi earthside, including a few sets of twins in there between the 4 of us! 👶

Its been a year, Roll on 2026 and what's ahead for the team here at Manaaki!

- Jade, Gemma, Hayley and Shari 💚

10/12/2025

With my last December pēpi earth-side it's time for a wrap up of this year!

2025 - What a year it's been, I ended on the same total births as 2024 (wild.. that was not on purpose) This time the boys won with 38 baby boys earth-side and 28 baby girls including a set of twin girls ✨💚

Thank you to all the families that chose me as their midwife this year and allowed me to walk these journeys with you. Through the times of joy, times of loss, times of worry and excitement I see you and appreciate you and will think of you and your families this Christmas as I fill my cup with my own tāmariki and husband.

As we farewell 2025, We farewell Lizz from Manaaki Midwives my practice partner since the start and what a ride its been i'll be sad not having you to call on and listen to my crazy thoughts but am excited for your new adventures within the hospital! Do amazing as always friend!

Excited to see what 2026 holds with my old mentor and friend Shari stepping in as my practice partner and building Manaaki even more with our amazing crew Gemma and Hayley by our side!

Heres to 2025 wrap up - what a year its been! ✨💚

14/11/2025

Thank you to the whānau for sharing the wonderful home birth of Elsie Joy! ✨💚

From the moment Jade answered my email and said she would take me on (despite my due date being a week and a half before Christmas) I knew she was going to be the perfect fit to have deliver our baby in our home.

I joked the whole pregnancy that I would do everything I could to go into labour early so she didn’t have to worry about a Christmas delivery………

Well the 23rd of December rolled around and still no sign of baby (41+ 3) so I text Jade at 8:30 my plans to try midwives brew. By 9 am had drunk the entire thing (gross but nice?!).

9:20 I had my bloody show which upon reflection makes me think labour was likely to have been that day, midwives brew or not. However it definitely seemed to get things cranking. Yikes is all I can say.

9:50 Our firstborn was picked up by some beautiful family members (my contractions were 3 minutes apart and 1 minute long but didn’t feel intense enough yet. Josh (Husband) started filling the birth pool.

10:30 I climbed into the pool and after 2 MASSIVE contractions, Josh suggested we call Jade. On the call I told Jade I wasn’t feeling pushy but the contractions were intense (totally down playing the reality!!!!!!!) however the beauty of having a midwife walk alongside your entire pregnancy meant that she knew I was closer to baby time that I realised. She reassured me and said I was doing great then talked to Josh saying she would finish with her client in clinic and be round asap.

11:00 After getting too hot in the birth pool I moved to the lounge to labour on the ground, crunching ice like crazy to try cool down. At this point my groans changed enough that Josh and I looked at each other like “oh snap. Where are the midwives”😅

11:09 My waters broke (with my son my waters broke and he was born 10 minutes later) so this added to Joshs hidden panic that the midwives weren’t here yet.

Thankfully before Josh changed his vocation to midwife, arriving 1 minute after the assistant midwife (11:12), Jade breezed in the door and said “hi darling I’m here, you’re doing so well” and wow the relief that brought was unbelievable. After several contractions and coaching from Jade, Elsie was caught by Josh at 11:20.

After the whirlwind of a fast labour and delivery, I struggled a bit with bleeding and shock, however Jade was sooo calm and helped in every way she could to get me and Elsie as comfortable as possible while doing fundal massage to get my bleeding under control. The professionalism of Jade, her ability to command the room with peace and assuredness, and her beautiful caring nature and support for mamas, babies, and their whānau is truely a divine gifting. Thank you so much Jade 💓

- Thank you guys for sharing your special moments bringing Elsie earthside, if you're had a birthing experience with any of the Manaaki Midwives you're happy to share. Please get in touch, lets normalise birth together! 💚✨

16/10/2025

Introductory post - I havent done one of these in a while so thought why not!

I'm Jade 👋 Mama of 3 and LMC Midwife here in Te Awakairangi! I started Manaaki Midwives at the start of this year after working alongside incredible midwives here but seeing some space for a new group and our lmc workforce to grow! I at present work alongside Shari, Gemma, Hayley and Lizz with Lizz switching to core (hospital) midwifery in December we'll then be a team of 4!

I have been an LMC Since i graduated and primarily support Hutt Hospital births and Home births with our group being honored to have 4 birth pools of our own available at koha! I take Whānau from Upper and Lower Hutt and reside in Upper hutt myself with our clinic rooms in Hutt Central 🏡

Why Midwifery? Midwifery was always something i wanted to do but never understood especially when leaving kura (school)! Fast fwd in 2016 we experienced a loss of our son Elijah 👼 at 18+6 weeks due to premature rupture of membranes from Chorioamnionitis (an infection of the fetal membranes) the care, respect and love i received during this time from the incredible midwives who cared for me in such a time of darkness made me realize this is where and who i wanted too be - A light for others! Supporting whānau through such special times of there lives and sometimes some of the hardest, being that hand to hold, that shoulder to cry on, that voice to say you can do this in the moments you think you cant.

Midwifery is so much more than catching babies, Its supporting mama in their innate ability to birth their babies in the safest way they know how! Protecting that space and holding them when they cant hold themselves!

💙💜💚

- a little picture of my reason why and crazy fam bam that keep me sane! 📷 By the wonderful

06/10/2025

Starting this november in Te Awakairangi how great does this look ⤵️

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CwurJRuqn/

22/09/2025

Just a reminder I am on leave in May 2026 for 3 weeks so our bookings here at Manaaki Midwives have reduced for this month due to midwife leave! I will be taking clients again from 3rd June onwards EDD and these bookings will be opening shortly! 🦋💚