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| - I went through two pregnancies with Dr. Folkestad. I love him, he's a great doctor. With that being said, he's busy. Very, very busy. If you're one of those people that do not like to wait for an hour minimum past your scheduled appointment time, then do not select him as your doctor. He delivers all of his own babies. Alllllll of them. Which means that on any given day he is pretty backed up, especially if more than one delivery occurs. My first pregnancy ended up in an emergency C-section and he had to rush right over ASAP. I'm sure that he left patients hanging to help my baby. Because of this, I never cared about the long wait when he had to help out other babies since it might have been a similar situation. It's hard to find doctors anymore who deliver all of their own babies and the peace of mind that you know who the doctor is going to be when its time to deliver is worth its weight in gold.
Now the negatives beyond the wait time... The office itself is busy in general. You will also wait for ultrasounds, sometimes for a long time. The office staff really is hit or miss. I wouldn't say that they are the friendliest bunch of ladies that I've ever met, on the phone or in person. Sometimes they can seem downright cold. But I wasn't there for the office staff. There used to be one lady at the front who warmed up when she got to know me by name and she was always nice. She's gone now.
Dr. Folkestad used to have one of the most amazing medical assistants I have ever met. She was so wonderful and supportive and bent over backwards for anything I needed. She's gone now, and I honestly don't think that I would have been able to go through another pregnancy with his new assistant. Hopefully the new one warms up a little bit with future patients.
Bottom line...if it's important to you that you have a highly skilled doctor that you can count on will be the one to deliver your baby, no matter what, and you can practice patience and ignore the gruffness and the office staff, then Dr. Folkestad is for you. Keep your eyes on the prize - the most important thing is the quality of the medical care you and your baby get when it's actually time to receive it.
Piece of advice - Always ask for a morning appointment - before 10am - and try to avoid Fridays if you can. Even the wait for the ultrasounds seems long on Fridays.
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