"How could you suffer a prolonged labor? I expect that the child will be born quickly. If you can take this medicine, there can be no doubt," said the Daishonin, to me, in the Gosho “Easy Delivery of a Fortune Child.” I say that the Daishonin said this to me, because this is what I learned from my experience.

MOTHERHOOD.You never know the feeling until the little bundle of joy is in your hands. For me, the nine months were easy, except for my apprehension that the birth of the baby would be painful. Even though I knew that after the hard labor would be bliss, the time leading up to that bliss was very scary. I would often plead with my doctor for a caesarean, but she bluntly refused. She saw a clear possibility of a normal delivery, so a caesarean was totally ruled out. 

Fear gripped me more and more. I started going through books about child delivery and labor. The more I read, the scarier it got. Moreover, everyone had said (and I had read) that the first delivery normally has a prolonged labor. It was then that I thought, WHY AM I READING ALL THESE BOOKS, WHEN I HAVE NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO? I felt no less than a fool doubting the law. 

I closed the books — not to say that whatever was written there was not authentic — because I had within me something truly powerful. Just as the Daishonin says, MUSTER YOUR FAITH AND PRAY TO THIS GOHONZON. THEN WHAT IS IT THAT CANNOT BE ACHIEVED? How true! I realize it now.

Things were going fine until my friend resigned — she was a resident doctor at the hospital where I was planning to have the baby. I was very disheartened, because I knew her presence would have been so important for me. However, Gohonzon had something else in store for me; very soon, another member joined the hospital staff, just as my delivery day neared. I knew in my heart that this was an inconspicuous benefit. I had not chanted for it, but there it was. 

Things moved fast, until suddenly my doctor got concerned about my baby's weight. She advised me to take few tests, which turned out to be normal. Then she decided that I should be admitted to the hospital for a 24-hour close monitor. I was hospitalized, and was given intravenous fluids all the time, and injections too. Naturally, I was always scared of needles. However, what can be greater than NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO? The nurse said that having a few injections could be painful, but for me there was NO PAIN AT ALL. This was so strange, because normally I yelled enough to shake the whole house when I received an injection. Strangely, this all felt so easy — I knew in my heart, the Buddhist Gods were all around protecting me.

My doctor observed that my blood pressure shot up during the night and she told me that this could perhaps be the reason why the baby was not gaining enough weight. The doctor suggested I go for an early delivery with a painful induction.

My friends were worried about me and held me solely responsible for the condition I was in. But behind all their accusations, I could see something, which they perhaps never realized:

1. I could use this experience to get over my fear of needles.
2. My rising blood pressure (which was normal during the day) was diagnosed. Without hospitalization, how could it have been discovered?
3. I grew quite close to this BSG (Bharat Soka Gakkai) member who was working at the hospital, and I found in her a truly good friend.
4. Most importantly, she introduced me to the Gosho “On Delivery of a Fortune Child.”

The day arrived, and I packed my bags and left for the hospital. On the dot of 7:30 a.m., I was there. Immediately I was started with the medical procedure. 7:30 turned to 10:30 a.m., and there was no sign of pain or labor contractions. At around 2:30 p.m., I started getting slight pinches of pain, but I was unaware of it. However, the ones who were monitoring me said I was getting pains. Finally, at 4:30 p.m., I started feeling slight pain and, at 5 p.m., I was given the last tablet for the day. 

It was then that my doctor came and told me that she would come back at 7 p.m. to check on me again. Then turning to the resident doctor, she said that she would be back by 7 or 9 p.m. and then decide what to do, but she was sure the baby would be late. I overheard this conversation and I was scared at that point. I changed the course of my prayer then, and in the meantime, I had started getting sharp shooting pains. I questioned the Daishonin regarding the part of the Gosho where it said, ‘when I have provided the seed for an easy delivery, how could the child be any less than my own?’ I chanted for the Daishonin to keep his promise. I chanted vigorously, targeting the baby’s birth to take place before 7 p.m. I connected myself to Sensei in my prayers, and my BSG friend (who is also a doctor) was there with me. She kept chanting along with me and reminded me not to forget all my comrades in faith who were especially doing relay daimoku just for me. 

Together my friend and I did evening gongyo. She spoke out aloud when I failed to carry on. The moment the gongyo was over, I got an unbearable pain, and the friend of mine who was there to keep me company was, in fact, the Buddhist god I had hoped for. She was there in spite of being off duty. The other doctors were not present in the labor room, because my doctor had told them that my delivery would take time. It was then that my doctor friend decided to examine me. And she could not hide her surprise and amazement at the power of the law! Sparing no time I was rushed to the operation theatre, there was a hustle and bustle of steps, and in another 10 minutes or so, I was delivered safely of a healthy baby girl at 6:01 p.m., just as the Daishonin promised. Our prayers were answered.

The doctors were amazed too. The atmosphere was one of amazement and amusement, the doctor really patted my back for doing so well, but she could not hide her surprise at such a quick delivery of the baby. No one was prepared for it. I was not amazed, for I knew in my heart the key to all this. I was grateful, and even as I type this experience, tears well up in my eyes at the debt of gratitude to the Gohonzon. 

In addition, one little step I could do to show my gratitude was to whisper Nam Myoho Renge Kyo in the ear of my daughter, as the first token of love from a mother. I told my doctors about the law — the pediatrician and all my friends who were present there were amused and surprised at this. I was happy that I could touch so many lives and I wanted even more people to hear this experience and feel the vigor and the joy that derives from the boundless power of the Gohonzon.

I now realize the mission behind my normal delivery:

1. I got even closer to the Gohonzon.
2. Previously I had regarded the Gosho as mere holy writing. Most important, I now realized its profundity, and the value of each line.