I Am
My name is Jade Viljoen and I am a Full Spectrum Birthkeeper (Doula), A Childbirth Educator (Former HypnoBirthing® Practitioner), a Sacred Womb Healing Facilitator, and a Cacao Kuchina. I am also a happily married Mom who has birthed three tiny humans in three different ways.
To describe who I am and why I am in the line of work that I am in, I would have to tell you about my journey to writing this biography. Let me begin by sharing how I have given birth, in order:
2012/08/21
Baby: Kaeden
Birth Type: Elective Cesarean at 38 Weeks
Breastfeeding: No
Skin to Skin: No
Delayed Cord Clamping: No
Birth Team: A gynecologist
Reasoning: "Very skinny to give natural birth", I was 19 years young, uniformed, without sufficient support
2018/06/06
Baby: Malakai
Birth Type: Unmedicated Vaginal Water Birth After Cesarean
Length of Labour: Active Labour: 6 Hours, Practice Labour: 1,5 days
Birth Place: Genesis Maternity Clinic
Birth Team: Midwives, My husband, a Doula, and a Back-Up Gynae
Reasoning: I felt traumatized and emotionally distant from my first birth and baby and chose to empower myself by giving birth gently, naturally, and by my own terms.
Coming in July/August 2020
Baby: Jasmine Ruby
Birth Type: Unmedicated HypnoBirth 2VBAC
Birth Place: At home
Birth Team: Midwives and Husband
Birth Story:
When I found out I was pregnant last year, I was over the moon with joy and absolutely sure of the birth I wanted to have. We were planning a move to Mozambique and I started looking for midwives in the area, started looking at freebirth and started visualizing this birth.
When things all changed, I became quite okay with the fact that I would be birthing in icy Johannesburg in the middle of winter but that this time- it would be at home. My 1st VBAC was at Genesis Maternity Clinic and although it was a beautiful experience, as a Doula attending homebirths- I just couldn't deny that there is something fascinating and incredibly special about birthing at home.
At 32 weeks I did my HypnoBirthing© Educator training with Kim Young and took advantage of the scripts and reprogramming my mind for an easier, more comfortable birth than my last birth (it was long and hard - so was the postpartum period.) I had said I will labour for 6.5hrs, well, my brain and body sure listened.
I started experiencing practice surges 5 days before, on the Sunday, but they tapered off by the afternoon. I spent the week taking it relatively easy, eating a LOT of date and cacao cookies and listening to my HypnoBirthing recordings each day and night, taking a bath each night with candles and visualizing my cervix opening and thinning, visualizing a thread of light from my heart wrapping around my womb and lifting it to open.
On Thursday evening I was quite overstimulated when it was time to have my bath and I couldn't settle. I started feeling some cramping and went to sleep at about 12pm. At 3am I woke up with cramps and needed to pee often and my toddler woke up and came to my bed for cuddles. Once he climbed in the bed, the surges became a more intense but I just breathed and used visualization to breeze through it and dozed off back to sleep.
At 6am I woke up and decided to get in the bath to see if the surges were consistent. By this time it was still dark and I lit candles, said my prayers to protect my baby and myself and climbed into the bath. I had wanted to message my birth team, including my photographer and my dear friend but found myself needing to go deep into meditation, stopped typing the message to my wonderful midwife and just lay in the bath in the zone.
During these surges I could feel my cervix opening, bit by bit. It was actually overwhelming as it felt almost electric (for a lack of better words.)
About an hour or so later I called my husband and told him to call my Mom to fetch our toddler and to time contractions after mustering up the focus to message midwife. He was so amazing and used a blanket to make our bathroom super dark for me- as he knew that was really important for me to labour in a dimly lit area.
We timed contractions for an hour and the midwives said they would be on their way in an hour.
At this stage my Mom had collected our boy and I decide to get out of the bath because I want to save hot water to birth in. Walking to the bedroom I'm not sure the midwives will arrive on time because I'm having a hard time breathing into my surges as I could physically feel my baby descending with each surge and I really didn't want to birth out of water. My husband was applying counter pressure and doing most of the Doula things he has heard me talking about, as well as light touch massage which was sooo good!
When Sarah and Elrika arrived I was deep in the zone, I just recall seeing Sarah wearing a cute birthing shirt and noticing that Elrika had changed her hair colour Besides that, it was nearing time to give birth and nothing else mattered at this point- besides the powerade and ice my husband poured for me (life changing, I tell you.)
By the time the tub was set up and the water was ready my body was beginning to push. Breathing into these surges was intense and it took a little while to get on top of them as I felt very in my body. I felt baby was about to crown as was shocked to feel something round, smooth and slippery, instead of a head with hair- this put me in my logical mind a bit and I believe made me tense up for a few moments.
I recited a short mantra Adi Shakti at this point as I felt I needed some Divine assistance and feeling the slippering round thing - I asked Sarah "is this her head?" and she says, "yes it is, with her membranes." and I respond, "oh wow, okay. Okay."
With that question out of the way, my body and baby had the opportunity to do their work and her head was out. Feeling her turn was also an incredible experience as with the next surge she was out and in my arms, crying very loud- covered in vernix and with a huge chunk of her caul on her. She was born at 10:20am. 4 and a half short hours after I took a bath "just to see."
We remained skin to skin as I Birthed her placenta, which was quite a chunky placenta too. From there we had an hour of uninterrupted skin to skin and she latched nicely. She was weighed and had all her checks and off our midwives went with some date cookies and me feeling like I can never repay them for the space they held for me.
Some things I want to mention:
- I had zero vaginal examinations
- I had 2 scans (I would have been fine with even just 1)
- I was extremely stressed and in quite a bad space throughout my pregnancy and I feel that using Sacred Pregnancy Rituals and HypnoBirthing techniques I really feel I was able to manifest a birth that was the opposite of my experience in my pregnancy
- I had a fully physiological birth because I chose a care provider that understands and respects that women have the right to choose what birth they wish to have. Having worked with
as a Doula, I have seen time and time again how they respect a birthing person's body's autonomy in a way that doesn't even need to be said with words.
- We don't always get the birth we envision because sometimes your birthing body does it's own thing but when you have a birth team that understands the fundamentals of what is most important to you--nothing else really matters. I didn't get to call my birth photographer or have my friend with me but my daughter crowned as I was chanting a mantra, with her caul, in the same room she was conceived.
Her being born with her caul is incredibly special to me as it is believed that children who's parents keep their caul will be protected from drowning and that's how her brother sadly passed away in 2015.
Birth is truly a divine, special rite of passage and every birth I have attended had some part of it that felt very spiritual, very protected by angels, or ancestors and God. We should revere it for what it is and continue to tell our birth stories so that others may be inspired to give their bodies the chance they deserve to do the birthing thing! Look for the little signs, trust your gut, listen to your body, listen to your baby!
As you can see, I have journeyed a long way with birth, with being a Mom and with myself as a Woman. Through the last 7 years, I have taken a deep dive into the trenches of grief as a bereaved Mother and to the top of the highest Mountains as a Seeker of Truth, God, and my Divinity. I had given birth for a second time and felt re-born- eager to serve and to educate, eager to potentially change the world one birth at a time. Simply by being an ally, a companion, a coach, and a friend.
I have felt humbled by how deeply support during a pivotal time such as the labour and birth of a child is, particularly in the Government Hospital sector in South Africa, as a volunteer. When I found myself to be the only one a woman can anchor to and rely on during childbirth- I fell deeper in love with birth and inevitably, my profession.
As I started to find my feet as a Birth Doula, I started to notice that positive birth stories were often met with horror stories. When asking finer details regarding the weeks leading up to the labour and births, pregnant women were often placed on strict timelines- such as having their labour induced at 38 weeks, or being told that carrying to 40 weeks was dangerous. Their care providers used phrases such as, "Let's see how it goes" when confronted with real questions such as "Will you allow me to carry to term?"
The real shock came one day when watching a very popular online streaming site's documentary explaining Birth. All the footage is shown of birth documented women birthing on their backs and showed very little variation in birthing methods in terms of natural childbirth. The moment I switched off the tv, was when the narrator mentioned that a full-term pregnancy was 38 weeks when biologically it is anything between 38 weeks and 42 weeks. For me, it was laughable.
That was when I remembered being completely oblivious to the point of choosing to surgically remove my first baby from my womb at 38 weeks, this was when I remembered that I had a public duty to learn, to grow, and to teach.
I soon completed HypnoBirthing® Practitioner Training, all while completing training with two incredible mentors:
-J'anaki Ashira - Founder of the School of the Sacred Feminine Arts, Founder of The Red Tent South Africa, Yogi, and Medicine Woman.
Certified Red Tent Facilitator
Certified 200HR Yoga Teacher
- Dr Gauri Louw - Medical Doctor specializing in Holistic Women's Health
Certification in progress: Postpartum Doula
Sacred Midwifery
-Samala Kriedeman: Founder of Mama Nurture Bereavement Doulas
Trained Bereavment Doula
-Willow Jayne - the founder of Akasha: Institute of Embodied Leadership, an award-winning Entrepreneur, Medicine Woman, Author of “Mental Health Warrior.”
Certified Cacao Kuchina
Through my (constantly ongoing) education and my understanding of the birthing body, the human mind, and the Spirit- I have come to find profound medicine in the Womb and in the process of Creating, Birthing, and nurturing life. Thus, why I am so very passionate about my work.
I am based in Jeffrey's Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa. All my offerings are available online therefore international clients are welcome! I highly recommend my antenatal classes especially for those who do not have access to a doula. Please read more here.
I am a voice for comfortable, blissful, empowered, and sacred birth.