ot a rant about lazy arsed OHs.
Bit long so sorry.
Booked an appt to register DS's birth. Only just got an appt within the 6 weeks even though I booked it (online) the week he was born.
Started trying to phone them at the beginning of the week. Phone would ring out or would be engaged. Some times it would be picked up and put back down again (thats what it sounded like anyway).
The reason I was calling was to let them know that OH is disabled and finds stairs very difficult. Registry office is a lovely old house but has no lift and very steep stairs. I wanted to give them plenty of notice that we needed to be seen downstairs. They have rooms downstairs.
Another side issue is that I had to register DD's death in the room upstairs and really wanted to avoid being in there if I possibly could. But OH's mobility was the main issue.
Turned up today and explained the situation. Receptionist phoned upstairs and had a discussion. From the things she was saying I knew what was coming next.
'As you are married you dont need your husband with you'
'He wants to be present, I want him with me'
'But its not a legal requirment and you can manage the stairs'
Told us to wait and they would see if they could use a downstairs room.
20mins later a woman comes and says;
'You dont need to have your husband with you'
'I want him there, he wants to be there'
'Other mothers do it on their own'
'Yes but they have the choice to bring their husbands. We are not being given that choice so you are not meeting the requirments of the DDA'
'Well I could do it in here [waiting room] but that wouldnt be confidential otherwise you will have to come upstairs on your own (missing the point), unless you want to talk to my manager'
'Yes please'
5 minutes later she comes back and tell us that we will have to wait past our allotted time until a downstairs room is free (allotted time went out the window some time ago).
30minutes later we were seen by a very nice registrar and the deed was done.
Ok I am fine and its done. I am not emotionally scarred or anything. What annoys me most is that it was obviously not that difficult to arrange a downstairs room but no one seemed willing to sort it out until they were threatened with the DDA and knew that they HAD to. Not fair on OH.
If you are wondering why OH didnt speak for himself, he did a bit but he is the quiet sort .
What wouldve happened if he went to do it himself without me? Would they have told him to go away? What if a single parent comes to do it and cant do stairs?