Baba’s protection: Right from pregnancy thru safe delivery and more…..
“If you spread your palms with devotion before Me, I am immediately with you, day and night. Though I am here bodily, still I know what you do; beyond seven seas. Go wherever you will, over the wide world. I am with you. My abode is in your heart and I am within you. Always worship Me, who is seated in your heart, as well as, in the hearts all beings. Blessed and fortunate, indeed, is he who knows Me thus.”
-Satcharitra chapter 15. Baba imparted beautiful and important lesson to Mr. Cholkar in chapter 15.
I bow to Shri Sainath and pray for his blessings to share this leela.
It was August, 2001. My wife conceived and was due for her first check-up after 8 weeks. We went to the clinic as scheduled and scanning was done. The Technician broke the news that he couldn’t find the embryo in his scan and neither the heart beat. We were shocked and earth under my feet started shaking and the room seemed to be revolving (as shown in the movies) and I kind of collapsed onto a nearby chair/table. After couple of minutes I recovered and asked the technician “Is there any possibility or hope?” As I was present in the scanning room during the scanning, I saw the multiple efforts made by the technician to find the embryo before breaking the news to us. He felt the situation was hopeless. Later, a nurse tried to comfort us. I asked the same question again and again: “Is there any chance?” She told us that there was no chance and told my wife that in the next few days she would have an abortion and gave her empty (small) cups to retain some of it for further test/research. I asked her again “Is there any hope?” She replied, you can always have “hope” but again said that abortion can be any time in next couple of days and told us to retain some of it. I asked her what if abortion does not happen in next one week? She said come back to us for more tests, but stressed again that abortion will happen in two or three days.
We returned home, were very saddened and kept on praying to Baba. The father of a friend (who is also my neighbour) aged 68/70 years and a very devout person, (who also did la ot of research on Ramayan, Mahabharata) was in town. And upon learning about our test results, he gave us a slokam from Mahabaratha – which was sung by Draupadi during the Vastra-apaharana episode, begging Krishna to rush to her rescue. We received the “slokam” as Baba’s prasadam and prayed to Baba and SaiKrishna. I stood in front of Sai Baba (who is my Krishna) and chanted the slokam. Baba’s namam audio cassette was played from morning 6 am to 10 pm continuously everyday and night. Days passed but the abortion did not occur. The good sign was my wife continued the pregnancy symptoms. These gave us hope, and went on praying day and night to Baba, literally day and night. My home was like Baba’s temple and Baba’s songs were played all the time for next seven days.
After one week, we went to the clinic for re-tests. This time during the scanning, we heard the baby’s heart beat loud and clear. Our joy knew no bounds. The technician was shocked. It took a few minutes for him to apologize to us. He said he had never seen this kind of incident in his life. After the examination the nurse came running to us and apologized and hugged my wife. She was very happy to know the news, but at the same time she was very apologetic. It seemed she was very worried that we may file a case or sue her. She hugged my wife five times during the check-up and walked us to the exit doors when we were leaving. She said in her 15-20 years of service, she never had seen this kind of incident. We knew in our hearts that this was Baba’s Miracle. Nothing is impossible in Baba’s giving and protection. As we read in Satcharitra, Baba said many times “My Mission is to give Blessings”.
Months passed and we were praying sincerely with joy filled hearts, and remembering Baba’s miracle every day for those nine months. None of our parents or in-laws could come to help us with the delivery. My wife’s first delivery was a C-section back in India. She was worried that if this too was going to be a c-section it would be tough for us to take care the baby if she had to take bed-rest due to the surgery. At the same time she was also worried about going through the intense pains of a normal delivery. As we all know, nothing is in our hands. All we can do is pray to Baba and leave everything to him. Baba’s songs/namam were played every day and night at home for all those nine months. We felt our home was a Sai Mandir for those nine months, as Sai music played all the time, day and night.
Nine months passed, on delivery day early morning at 3 am, Padmaja was getting delivery pains. We went to the hospital to check-in. Surprisingly, after being admitted, the time-gap between the strokes went from 5 minutes to 10 minutes and also her body status was not meeting the requirements for admission. So we were told to go back, and the nurse’s attitude was not at all friendly. We were really depressed with her attitude, and were sent back home. The distance from our home to hospital was a 30 minute drive. But see Baba’s miracle. After we reached home, she got back the delivery-pains. But we hesitated to go to the hospital as we were concerned that she may be sent back again. We were continuously in touch with doctor over phone (being Sunday), and at 11am or so the time-gap between pains went down to 3mins/2mins from 5mins. Finally, we started for the hospital at 4:30 pm. Padmaja had to control herself a lot in the car. She was having heavy pains but she was scared that I may not be able to drive properly if I heard her screaming. We prayed to Baba on the way that she should be admitted. As soon as we reached the hospital, a nurse saw her as she was walking to the reception and rushed her straight to the delivery room without any formal admission formalities and tests. The nurse checked her in the delivery room and told us it’s 9.5 cm open. Doctor was paged, and in next 30 minutes Padmaja delivered the baby while listening to the audio of Baba’s Namam. See Baba’s miracle here. If my wife had admitted to the hospital in morning, she would never have been able to bear the pains. Baba knows what’s best. He kept her at home, and at home we didn’t know the progress, so even though she had severe pains at home, she bore them thinking this is just the beginning. Baba gave her the strength to go through the pains. Baba redirected her attention from delivery-tension to admission-tension. Even if one observes the timing, we went to the hospital right at the nick of the time and not an hour early, not an hour later. We reached the hospital at 5:30 pm and were ready for the delivery and were sent straight into the delivery room. Later I came to know that while we were driving to the hospital, our Baba (in the form of the Doctor) called the hospital to be ready to receive us. So when we reached the hospital, they had the patient’s records and doctor’s details ready. Baba made sure that it was a safe and natural delivery.
On the 3rd day of the delivery we were discharged. At the time of discharging us, the visiting Doctor checked the baby and said everything was fine and we could leave. Fortunately, by Baba’s grace my son urinated while the tests were being done and there was a need to change his clothes. While the nurse was changing Sai’s (my son) clothes, Doctor observed some thing different in his skin and ordered them to do the tests for Jaundice and told us take the child for a check-up the following day. We were discharged.
Next day, we took him to the clinic and learnt that the Jaundice test results were 20 (or more). We rushed to the Children’s hospital for emergency as per the advice, and admitted the baby for the treatment. It was 4th day of delivery and we are back to stay at the hospital. The mother had to feed the baby every 30 minutes, as that would help the child get rid of Jaundice. It was very hectic for the two of us, and we were in panic. By midnight the tests showed that the Jaundice had gone down by one point or two. This was a very good sign as the trend was expected to continue. We stayed in the hospital for two nights and then went back home, with equipment (brief-case and blanket) for further treatment at home. The nurse came home every day for a couple of days to check on progress. And with Baba’s grace Sai recovered soon. It was Baba’s grace that my son urinated in the main hospital, which caused doctor to check on Jaundice other-wise we would found out about it at a very late stage, as we did not have much experience of jaundice etc. It would be very tough find out about the disease as we live in an apartment where you don’t have much light, and there were no older persons at home to check on such things. Baba helped us to get through our troubles and protected us at every stage.
Baba! Oh our dear lord! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Whenever I see my son, I remember it’s Baba’s blessings.
Bow to Sri Sai, Peace be to all.
Satya Bajjuri, USA
Sai baba let your holy lotus feet be our sole refuge.OMSAIRAM