Prenatal yoga instructor Letty Shaw demonstrates techniques that women can do during their pregnancy at the Hutchinson Regional Medical Center in Hutchinson, Kan. (Colleen Lefholz, The Hutchinson News/Associated Press)

Katie Burge is more at ease during this pregnancy.

Her muscles are relaxed, and every time she has a cramp, she knows how to work it out. She expects to have her baby in about four weeks.

Burge, who already has two children, attributes the calmness to a prenatal yoga class at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center in Kansas.

"I've never done anything like it before," said Burge, of Lyons.

The 12-week program, which started in March, is the last project in instructor Letty Shaw's yoga training. Shaw's goal is to learn enough during this pilot program to teach other yoga instructors how to teach prenatal yoga.

"A lot of ladies can benefit from prenatal yoga," Shaw said. "There's no reason to hurt and suffer if there's something that can be fixed while not taking drugs or other things that are harmful to your body."

Shaw was in the midst of her initial yoga training about four years ago when she became pregnant with her third child. Before, she had problems with sciatica pain from a nerve that goes down the leg and lower back pain.

With yoga training, she never had a problem.

"I didn't hurt at all with my third child," she said. "I thought yoga was amazing. Everyone needs to know about it."

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Yoga delivers calm to mothers-to-be