My Friend the Firebreather, Act I Pregnancy

My Friend the Firebreather, Act I Pregnancy

Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of pregnancy, pain, and parenting from someone who doesn’t fit the usual “recovery guest” mould. Recovery Crone sits down with her friend Wes, a firebreathing ex–circus aerialist and tech supervisor, to talk through a pregnancy that went wrong in all the ways no one warns you about.

Wes isn’t in a 12-step programme, but her history as an adult child of dysfunction and her raw honesty make her story deeply relevant to anyone who grew up in chaos and is now trying to parent. You’ll hear how Wes went into pregnancy in the best shape of her life, only to be hit with relentless sickness, drastic weight loss, scary hospital stays and repeated “you’re in labour” false alarms.

She describes negligent doctors, feeling gaslit by women meant to care for her, and the surreal experience of spending weeks in painful contractions that never quite progressed. The episode then shifts into early motherhood: a tiny baby who can’t feed properly, a nurse quietly noting a “weak suck” while others brush it off, and months of extreme “purple crying” that nearly break the household.

Wes talks about the heartbreak of watching milestone flyers arrive while her daughter hits none of them, and the moment at the 12‑month visit when she refuses to be dismissed any longer, demanding every doctor in the clinic and a proper referral. A paediatrician finally says it “sounds a lot like autism” and sends them to a children’s hospital specialist.

Through humour, swearing, and plenty of candour, this conversation is aimed at parents, especially those from alcoholic or chaotic homes, who feel they’re “in it” with no script. As Wes says, “if there's just one person in the whole wide world that goes, wow, I'm not alone. That's good enough for me, right?” If you’ve ever wondered whether your fears about your child are valid, this story might make you feel a little less alone.