Decades of Delivering Babies Delights Dr. Kadum

Delivering babies never gets old for Fareed Kadum, MD, MBA, FACS, FACOG, an Obstetrician-Gynecologist with CHI St. Alexius Health. 

Dr. Kadum stopped counting 8 years ago after delivering 4,500 babies

“I stopped counting after 4,500 babies. But no, it never gets old,” he said. “When I deliver a baby, it may be number 400 or 4,500, but it is number one for the young couple. This is their special baby.”

In the delivery room, Dr. Kadum feels the same excitement. 

“My heart beat goes up. I sweat a little. I get excited because it is number one for them, or maybe number two,” he said. “Every baby is special and every pregnant woman is special.” 

His journey to CHI St. Alexius Health

After a long career in the Atlanta, Georgia, area, Dr. Kadum came to Williston in 2015 and has been providing Ob-Gyn care to women here ever since. “It’s eight years this January,” he said. 

When he sold his practice in northern Atlanta, Dr. Kadum and his wife, Jayne, were empty nesters. “I’ve been practicing Ob-Gyn since 1984. These were going to be our adventurous years,” he said.

The couple was interested in a change of scenery. “We looked at where we wanted to go – the next county, the next state, and finally we ended up here,” he said. “We originally came to stay for one year. We both liked it so we stayed.” 

They built a house, which Janie threw herself into designing and decorating, and began enjoying all the area offers. “Unfortunately my wife was diagnosed with cancer and she died four years later,” Dr. Kadum said. 

The two had been married for 43 years. Most of the Kadum’s four children and six grandchildren still live in the Atlanta area, but they visit regularly. 

Enjoying North Dakota and surrounding area

“We go fishing and skiing. We go to Big Sky, or they fly to Bozeman and I meet them there,” he said. 

Dr. Kadum continues to enjoy the area, especially fishing, as he practices all facets of Obstetrics and Gynecology, including low-risk and high-risk Obstetrics, and all kinds of Gynecologic surgeries. 

“We fill a void in the community and our services are well received,” he said. “In general, I provide all Ob-Gyn care from pregnancy and baby delivery to surgery.”

Dr. Kadum's extensive training and career at CHI St. Alexius Health

Dr. Kadum received his medical degree from Baghdad Medical School in Baghdad, Iraq and came to the United States to complete his residency at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. 

He went on to become a fellow of the American College of Surgery and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Dr. Kadum is also certified by the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists and American Fertility Society.

He’s seen technology and procedures advance tremendously over the span of his career. 

“When I first started in the mid-1980s, women would be in the hospital after a hysterectomy for four to five days. Now with laparoscopic surgery we hardly open the patient unless it’s a big cancer surgery. The majority of laparoscopic hysterectomies are what we call keyhole surgeries which only require small laparoscopic incisions. Patients go home sometimes the same day or the next day.”

On the Labor and Delivery side, he said around 1,000 babies a year make their arrival at CHI St. Alexius Health. 

“We have a wonderful group of nurses who work in Labor and Delivery,” Dr. Kadum said. “They do wonderful work to care for our patients and we try to personalize our care. I enjoy my job and I like the people I work with.”

During his off hours, Dr. Kadum frequents fishing spots like Devil’s Lake. “That’s a very good lake to fish,” he said. 

It’s not the fish so much as the process of catching them which he enjoys. “I’m learning to fly fish. There’s definitely an art to that.”