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Because she teaches first aid and CPR at Bais Rivka, the main girls' high school in Crown Heights, most young mothers already know Vail when the time comes to give birth just a few short years later, and therefore feel comfortable with her. "We have close-knit families here," Vail said, explaining how women get informed about pregnancy and prenatal care. "You go to your mother or mother-in-law when you have questions. A lot of girls call me for advice. My phone never stops ringing." Advice Vail doles out includes eating healthy foods, drinking lots of water and visiting a doctor after six to eight weeks of pregnancy. That doctor's visit does not include a sonogram for girls in Crown Heights, however. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, the revered spiritual leader of the Lubavitch movement, decreed that pregnant women should only have sonograms if the woman is sick or something is unusual in the pregnancy. Sonograms "just to see the baby," "just to make sure everything is okay," or that are "just routine" are prohibited. The Rebbe never gave his reason when he made this proclamation decades ago, Vail said, but she pointed out that recent studies have suggested that sonograms can affect the development of the fetal brain. Once such study, led by a Yale neurologist and published in August 2006, found a link between the two in mice, but other researchers said that pregnant women should still have sonograms for medical reasons. Vail carries her own makeshift doula kit around in her purse at all times. It includes Johnson's Baby Lotion, an iPod and speakers in case the mother wants music, Tylenol, Advil, lavender oil and an extra hair covering - married women must have their hair covered in public at all times, even during childbirth. "I carry everything a person might need to go through labor. And I provide a lot of emotional and physical support," she said. She helps out with births at hospitals, birthing centers and even in homes. "I think most women are scared of having a baby, especially if it's the first one. It's something they want to do, but it's a huge unknown to them. All they know is that it's going to hurt." Vail said she is known as the "Human Epidural." She will rock back and forth with the delivering mother while embracing her from behind. "If you move with your body when you're in labor and go with what your body tells you, it will go much easier. Lying down during labor is cruel and unusual punishment. A woman should walk around, maybe have a hot shower, until she is dilated at least 10 centimeters." Vail should know; she delivered her own baby at the hospital over a decade ago. "She was my last one. I was 41 years old and she was baby number 10. As I pushed out my daughter, the doctor guided my hands onto either shoulder and I pulled her out myself, bringing her onto my chest. It was the most unbelievable experience of my life." She often drives the delivering mother and her husband to the hospital when she goes into labor; most young couples in Crown Heights don't own cars. Since she is a certified EMT, she switches on the flashing lights and blares the siren in her outfitted maroon minivan. On the speedometer of her car, Vail has affixed tiny pictures of all 10 of her children and her four grandchildren. "When I'm speeding to the hospital, I see their pictures right next to how fast I'm going and I remember to slow down a little," she said. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen? I deliver the baby in the car? Been there, done that." No one has commented on this article.
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