While the last few days are likely to live long in the memory for most, for one Fife family they have been truly unforgettable.
Following a frantic 48 hours or so, Alison and Frank Mooney are back home in Cowdenbeath enjoying cuddles at home with new arrival Gabriel in spite of the challenges the weather threw at them.
And the happy couple, along with Gabriel’s bigger brother Zac, 6, say they are eternally grateful to midwives, doctors and nurses at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital who ended up working long hours and were forced to sleep at the hospital as the wintry conditions worsened.
Alison, 35, said she felt her contractions getting more intense on Wednesday night and was told by a midwife that she could come into hospital, although she and Frank, 41, decided to use the time to collect her father so he could look after Zac.
“That way if we had to dash to the hospital we could just go,” she explained.
“We live in Cowdenbeath and dad lives in Kirkcaldy.
“It took Frank just under an hour to get there and back and during that journey Frank almost had a collision with a snow plough at a roundabout which could have made things interesting.
“By the time they were back I could tell things were starting properly.
“I finished packing the last few bits and bobs for our hospital bag and tried to time my contractions, but they were still infrequent.
“But they were getting quite painful so we decided because of the weather to head to the hospital to be on the safe side.
“The drive to hospital was a bit scary because even the dual carriageway was covered in snow. There hasn’t been enough traffic to get rid of it, but at least it wasn’t snowing.”
After arriving at hospital shortly before midnight, Gabriel was born at 1.30am on Thursday morning – and Alison paid tribute to those who had looked after her and her new bundle of joy.
She said: “I had to go to theatre afterwards and speaking to the midwives, nurses and doctors it turned out a lot of the staff hadn’t been home from their shift the day before because of the weather. And they weren’t planning on going home that night either.
“Some of the maternity rooms were being used by the staff to get some sleep since they couldn’t get home. I don’t know what we’d have done without the staff making such an effort to be there for their patients.
“We got home the following day about 4pm.
“The main roads were more clear on the way home but our street was awful and we really struggled to get the car to the house.
“When Frank took dad home again he was caught in a snowstorm. Thankfully he managed to get home safely but that was an awful drive.”
The weather still played havoc with their plans though as baby Gabriel was unable to meet his older brothers Aiden, 12, and Caleb, 8, for a few days longer because the snow stopped them making the journey through from Coaltown of Balgonie.