Ex Utero

Found Poem

fourteen goat fetuses

inside plastic bags

artificial amniotic fluid

extra-utero life support

mother goat

pumpless arteriovenous circuit

closed sterile fluid environment

umbilical vascular

blood flow

oxygenator

placental circulation

cannulation

in a dark, warm room

the sounds of the mother's heart


Words borrowed from:

  1. Klass, Perri (29 September 1996). “The Artificial Womb Is Born”The New York TimesISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 May2018.
  2. Partridge, Emily A.; Davey, Marcus G.; Hornick, Matthew A.; McGovern, Patrick E.; Mejaddam, Ali Y.; Vrecenak, Jesse D.; Mesas-Burgos, Carmen; Olive, Aliza; Caskey, Robert C.; Weiland, Theodore R.; Han, Jiancheng; Schupper, Alexander J.; Connelly, James T.; Dysart, Kevin C.; Rychik, Jack; Hedrick, Holly L.; Peranteau, William H.; Flake, Alan W. (25 April 2017). “An extra-uterine system to physiologically support the extreme premature lamb”Nature Communications8: 15112. Bibcode:2017NatCo…815112Pdoi:10.1038/ncomms15112PMC 5414058PMID 28440792.
  3. “Scientists Create Artificial Womb That Could Help Prematurely Born Babies”NPR.org.

Illustration: United States Patent and Trademark Office. https://patents.google.com/patent/US2723660A