Dr. Craig Astle is originally from Wyoming and attended Brigham Young University, where he received his Bachelors of Science and secondary education certification. He attended medical school at the University of Utah and successfully completed a four-year OB/GYN residency at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He joined Southern Utah Women’s Health Center, P.C. upon the completion of that residency. He has been extremely active in the St. George community and in his church. Dr. Astle enjoys his family, loves art, music and his family, and loves to travel. He also enjoys riding horses, gardening, hiking and biking. He is kind, calm and caring which we hope you can tell as you read more about him!

Why did you choose become an OBGYN?

It’s a happy profession most of the time. I like to be positive and helping people achieve a goal. I feel like I’m making a difference. I also love to do surgeries. This gives me an opportunity to do not only Obstetrics, but also Gynecologic surgeries that help people as well. Overall, it’s a very positive type of a specialty where I felt I could make a difference.

What is your most memorable delivery?

I’ve been able to deliver many of my grandchildren and those have all been absolutely amazing! I have 11 grandchildren with 1 on the way.

What do you love about Valley Women’s Health?

I came to St. George in 1987 and have delivered approximately 8,000 babies in St. George. It is so much better than being in a hospital setting because we can choose to be more personable, we can take more time, we can customize the care much better to each patient. We are working more in a family setting. In other words, all of our employees are considered family. Everyone is working together, there is a good spirit here and a good feeling. That’s why I like working here. And I love my partners! We do things for each other, we cover for each other when it’s necessary. It’s a very positive experience.

What is your favorite thing about being an OB/GYN?

I love being able to interact with the potential parents and having those relationships. It’s a neat thing to be involved in a really positive thing in their life. You don’t get that in a lot of other specialties where patients come in when they are sick and you help them feel better. That happens in our specialty too, but we’re working for a healthy mom and baby.

Has there been a memorable delivery?

Several hundreds of them! I can’t think of any one that stands out more than others. Everywhere I go in town I run into those people. It’s a neat experience to say, “Hi, how are you?” And they say, “Well, look how old and how much so-and-so has grown.” That is rewarding! Anywhere I go, I’m always running into people. Initially when I first got here, that used to really frighten me. I worried that I wouldn’t remember all the details, but people understand that you don’t remember everything. It’s become a pleasure rather than a frightful thing.

What experience do you have from medical school/residency that stood out?

I give so much credit to my dear wife. She is an amazing person. For 4 years in residency, she didn’t see me but every 3rd night for only a couple of hours. She raised the family. She took care of everything. I was working 102 hours a week, was on-call and up every third night, so you basically I was so sleep deprived the night after call that I could do nothing but come home and crash. The next night I would have just a few hours of awake time with my family. My wife took care of everything and kept us all together. She’s a very strong and independent woman.

What do you wish all women could know?

I wish women could feel important. Many women don’t realize how important they are in their family situation, in their marriage situation, in the community, in the world. They sell themselves so short. If I could give them the confidence to really believe in themselves and what they can do, they would have a better life. Many women have that, they’ve discovered that and they thrive because of it. But, there are so many women that are timid and just don’t think highly enough of themselves.

Tell me about your family.

I have 5 children! My wife is Australian and she came to Brigham Young University to go to school. We met there after my mission for the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1975. I served in the Netherlands, so I speak Dutch. It’s not a language that helps me a lot. I don’t run into many Dutch-speaking people.

What is something your patients don’t know about you?

I raise bee’s, have an aquaponics system in my backyard and that I trained horses for most of my young life as a cowboy. Most people don’t realize I’m a cowboy first.

What are your hobbies or favorite things to do?

I love rockhounding, hiking and the outdoors. My wife and I bike a lot. We have done quite a few races. Our favorite bike is Tour de Tucson, which is a 112-mile bike race around Tucson, where we did our residency. We’ve gone back and done it a couple time with other couples.

What is something that puts you in a good mood?

A beautiful nature scene. I really appreciate the beautiful world.

What is your favorite restaurant?

Mongolian BBQ.

Learn more about Dr. Astle