My legs and arms are starting to shake. I find myself mentally ready to push harder but physically, I am just giving out. Even my uterus must be getting tired, the contractions are coming less frequently now (how can that be? I wonder fleetingly) and seem less intense. And my will to descend again and again into the tunnel is waning. Unbidden, I am hearing the voices of women saying ãjust two pushes.. two pushes· two pushesä. I am starting to feel resentful ö where are my two pushes? Iâm working hard here! Where the heck is this baby? At one point I reach down to touch the head ö I saw this in a pre-natal video, and always thought it must surely be one of the most inspiring things a mother-to-be can do. But as I touch it, all I can think is "great: now where's the rest of her?"

I am spent, but no one seems to be rushing to get me out of this. And now, without knowing where the energy comes from, I try to drown out the womenâs voices. I reach, and what I come up with is what the pre-natal yoga instructor said, as she had us pump our arms to banish our fears. We would pump, in and out, out and in, eyes closed, well past the muscle-burning point, and as we huffed and puffed and squinched our faces up, she would say, calmly, Keep going. You can do this. You will need all your strength and more. You can do this.

So I say, weakly, barely whispering: I can do this.

I canât imagine anyone will hear me, but Jacquie does, she picks up the line and throws me an end and then pulls, hard: that's right Andrea. You can do this. You can do this. I allow myself to be pulled along, and we go through some more contractions.

And at last, it is time for the baby to be born. Suddenly, the tunnel widens, I can sit up in it, and there is a doorway coming closer and closer. At the last minute, Jacquie calls into the tunnel "Andrea! Open your eyes NOW!"

And I do, and there is the light of heaven and the moment of angel music, and my daughter, and my tears and laughter and joy all filling the room, as she, and I, emerge into the daylight, into the world.

Click here for more info on Yogapod's Prenatal classes .