Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Mary Richards, KSL NewsradioEvery year, close to 50,000 babies are born in Utah. The average family size is the highest in the United States. It's no wonder many couples struggling with infertility also struggle with something else - the sense they are not complete.
Eric Jergensen: "The societal expectation is, you've got kids."
Eric and Diane Jergensen (pictured above with baby Anastine) talk about friends of theirs who, like them, have struggled with infertility
Rachelle Hasenohrl: "People ask you, they always ask you. If you're married after six months they ask you."
Rachelle Hasenohrl always knew she and her husband George would have a hard time getting pregnant. But she didn't know it would be so hard to go through fertility treatments.
Rachelle: "That was the hardest part. Every month you got that negative pregnancy test."
Dr. Matthew Peterson, Chairman of the Utah Center for Reproductive Medicine: "Infertility is a huge issue. It's considered a medical condition."
Dr. Matthew Peterson sees eight percent more patients in his office each year who are struggling with infertility. He says about 10 percent of couples are infertile.
Dr. Matthew Peterson: "It is your neighbors. If you line up ten couples in a room, one of them is facing that, at least. Maybe two."
Dr. Peterson works at the Utah Center for Reproductive Medicine, offering treatments to help couples get pregnant. The Hosenohrls, after several tries, were able to conceive through artificial insemination.
Rachelle Hasenohrl: "It's still a little miracle, it's still the same thing, no matter how it happened."
And a miracle is how the Jergensens describe their 18-month-old girl, Anastine, who they were able to have after In Vitro Fertilization.
Eric Jergensen: "It's a tremendous miracle, and also a real risk. There are real high highs, and can be very low lows."
Those lows affect many people who are infertile in this fertile state. But Dr Peterson says he has seen those emotions everywhere.
Dr Peterson: "I don't know any human being who doesn't have an innate desire to have children."
In Vitro is also not easy-there are months of therapy and shots for some women, and very invasive procedures for others. It can also be expensive. But, it's a baby.
Check back tomorrow for part two of this series, when we take a look at some of the ethical concerns surrounding fertility treatments.
