The man asked Juliet what she thought she was looking at and Juliet said the womb of a 70 year old woman, the man then said the woman was only 26. Was it an image of one of the island women, I wonder? Is that really the reason they are kidnapping the children? Very fascinating stuff...

Really interesting - disturbing - but interesting...

If you could put a 70 y/o woman's uterus in a 26 y/o's body so a woman could have a baby in her 70's, or if you transplanted (and they are doing that right now...) a uterus to a woman who doesn't have one - say a woman who lost hers to cancer or was born w/o one and you have a 70 y/o woman die and donate organs/tissue/etc. the 26 y /o could use the donar's uterus to have a baby...

This is all going to come down to playing God and if we should or if we shouldn't.

I'm trying to think of some of the survivors...I feel like one of them could fit this profile...they would be about 30 now, based on the "3 years" she described at the end of the episode.

Yes that womb seems like it will play a part in future epi's

I was thinking it might be Alex...

Alex is only 16. This woman would appear 70 but in fact be 26. I think it could be Amelia, the old woman in Otherville. Maybe she's not as old as she appears.

Maybe just the womb is old, and it was Colleen?

Wow! The Dharma initiative is so secretive and creepy. I wonder what this womb thing was all about. Things are just getting creepier and creepier.

My guess is the womb has some connection to something that's happenning to women on the island. I think they're going to connect this womb and the story behind it to Ethan's interest in Claire, the Other's interest in Walt, and the two missing tail section kids.

My guess is the womb has some connection to something that's happenning to women on the island.
STH :hug: sunshinekitty1!!

Something went terribly wrong on Dharma Island (so what ELSE is new?!), and this is what happened to all the women there. Small wonder they are so eager to grab kids and get unexposed women (Sun? Kate?) preggers! And, of course, get a fertility doc genius like Juliet working on a way to cure, or reverse, this aged uterus condition!

I have a theory that "Adam" and "Eve" could be Ben's parents since he's lived on the island "all his life" that doesn't necessarily mean for instance if he's 40 years old that he's lived there for 40 years....People don't seem to age normally on this particular island...could the xrays of the womb have belonged to Eve they didn't have to be current xrays since they were used as an example. And if they aren't Eve's you know they more than likely tie in to someone we have met or will meet soon.. any thoughts?

Great, so Ben is the so-called "grandson" of God. Does this mean that the island is the Garden of Eden?

That's exactly it then, isn't it? I'm wondering if this aged uterus is a result of the VIRUS. you know, the one that Danielle was talking about that infected all her crew members, the same virus which Ethan once claimed would save Claire's baby if he was able to inject her with it - yet it seems like the same thing maybe that Juliet was putting in Rachel to GET her pregnant - and... just... SIGH.

I posted this in another thread, but this is my theory on the womb x-ray:

I wonder if it was another fertility experiment- but one where they purposely make someone infertile. This could be done for a number of reasons; as a procedure for someone who does not want children or, for more sinister reasons like preventing certain people from reproducing. The former could be a 'service' to the public (especially if they had drugs to reverse it as well), and the latter could be a 'service' with political undertones- effectively killing off undesirable peoples. Both would benefit a drug company of course.

I, too, think that this is tied to the Others and their inability to have children. I hope we see this tied in again in the future.
BEG - that's a cool theory too; I'm just leaning the other way right now.

Before this episode, there was a spoiler that we would learn why Ethan was interested in Claire and her baby. I can't remember if it was to apply to Not in Portland, though, or a future episode. But if it was this one, and the Other women have prematurely aged uteruses, that would explain the obsession with children.

This makes me wonder... if the island some how damages the wombs of the women on it, was Sun pregnant before she got there (possibly by her lover) or did she get pregnant after the crash?

I think this is a really great theory!

Remember the woman at the book club meeting? She looked about 70. Haven't put all the pieces together, but I'm sure she has something to do with it. Before the show, when they show the "previously on Lost" clips, they made a point of showing her. What they choose to show there is usually related to the episode.

I too am confused by this, but do believe it ties into the larger picture somehow (obviously). Just confirms more that the island is creepy.

so does that mean that the drug that Desmond was using was to get Desomnd pregnant? that just seems too far fetched if you ask me.

yeah if it was "the virus" to make uteruses (uteri?) to go old, then why are the men injecting themselves?

I dont usually post here, but I don't think it's that crazy to say that they would have men shooting themselves up with this stuff.

Didn't the guy who wanted Juliette to go to Portland ask if she impregnated a MALE field mouse. In response, she said yes, but that it didn't carry to term.

So maybe there's something important there?

Maybe not.

Maybe just the womb is old, and it was Colleen?

My thought exactly. She'd be about the right age, it seems. It would explain Pickett's strong connection to her--if she were pregnant after NOT being able to be pregnant, then he'd have a really strong emotional reason for the revenge issues he developed.

It would also go a LONNNNGGG way to explaining why they wanted Juliet on the island.

The womb looked old but belonged to a young woman. My take on it, they are looking for treatment for accelerated aging. Or at least that is what they were telling Juliet to lure her into Mittelos. Hey, come work with us and you will be able to turn the biologic clock backwards, if the clock is too fast.

I thought it was interesting is the womb was a focal point of Alpert's presentation. It was a carrot that he knew Juliet would bite on-but just as soon as she started asking questions he gave her the "If you want to know more, come with me" line. It's obviously a medical anomaly that whoever Alpert and Rom works for wants looked into.

Something on the Island causes seemingly "normal" woman to prematurely age-on the INSIDE, a significant impediment to bearing children. That has to be the reason Juliet was recruited.

I dont usually post here, but I don't think it's that crazy to say that they would have men shooting themselves up with this stuff.

Didn't the guy who wanted Juliette to go to Portland ask if she impregnated a MALE field mouse. In response, she said yes, but that it didn't carry to term.

So maybe there's something important there?

Maybe not.

Yeah...I was thinking that as well. Too random of a comment to make about the male field mouse for it not to have some significance. Is it just me, or does Juliet look pregnant herself during the flashback scenes? There was one shot where they focus on her hands clenching over her belly...maybe just to show that she's upset, but she seemed to have a slight bulge...like she was just starting to show.

I usually lurk & don't post, but I just had to say- I think your theory on the other's inability to carry children is excellent!!! I feel like you are all spot on. I'm so excited to learn more about Juliet, Mittelos and the real reason behind the injections... I can't wait for next week!

maybe they're danielles xrays? she was preg. when she crashed onto the island.

Maybe your body starts to deterioate after you've been on the island for many years.

OK, I'm posting late so I'm sure it's mentioned, but what about ROSE!!!! A older woman with cancer!!!

she's not seventy years old, nor is she 26. don't see how its possible.

The womb looked old but belonged to a young woman. My take on it, they are looking for treatment for accelerated aging. Or at least that is what they were telling Juliet to lure her into Mittelos. Hey, come work with us and you will be able to turn the biologic clock backwards, if the clock is too fast.

This is along the lines of what I am thinking. Aging is accelerated on the island for everyone, but is the reason why women can't bear children. They needed Juliet to help with this. Ben stated that he was born on the island, he looks to be 40-50 but maybe he is actually only 10 (or less) calander years or so.

Ben is ten years old? Hmm I doubt this is possible..the age for Alex isn't right if that is the case. She looks about 16 (maybe 18 or 19 but the actress wasn't the best casting for that age I guess). But I mean she doesn' look 80. I'm just not understanding how that could work.

And she was born on the island as well. Possibly even concieved on the island (though this is less likely I would assume Danielle was pregnant when she came on the island).

I think the womb was shown because it is a transplanted womb--as someone mentioned earlier. The 26-yr-old did not have a functioning uterus (for whatever reason--cancer, etc.) and had a transplant from a 70-yr-old who passed away and donated her uterus. A transplanted womb, could in theory carry a fetus (with hormone manipulation).

And she was born on the island as well. Possibly even concieved on the island (though this is less likely I would assume Danielle was pregnant when she came on the island).
DANIELLE: Our ship went aground on this island 16 years ago. There were 6 of us -- my team, 6. At that time I was already 7 months pregnant. I delivered the infant myself. The baby and I were together for only 1 week when I saw black smoke -- a pillar of black smoke 5 kilometers inland. That night they came -- they came and took her -- Alex. They took my baby. And now, they're coming again. They're coming for all of you.

I think the womb was shown because it is a transplanted womb--as someone mentioned earlier. The 26-yr-old did not have a functioning uterus (for whatever reason--cancer, etc.) and had a transplant from a 70-yr-old who passed away and donated her uterus. A transplanted womb, could in theory carry a fetus (with hormone manipulation).Just an FYI for the record, recently a 63 year old woman carried and gave birth to twins with little or no problems. So 70 isn't that much of a stretch, although I believe the 63 year old now carries the record for being the oldest woman to give birth.

Ben is ten years old? Hmm I doubt this is possible..the age for Alex isn't right if that is the case. She looks about 16 (maybe 18 or 19 but the actress wasn't the best casting for that age I guess). But I mean she doesn' look 80. I'm just not understanding how that could work.

And she was born on the island as well. Possibly even concieved on the island (though this is less likely I would assume Danielle was pregnant when she came on the island).

Your right, Alex blows the age acceleration theory out of the water. Alex was concieved off the island but born on it. Danielle was 7 months pregnant and has been on the island for 16 years. That puts alex at 16 years old. Selene1212 also points this out. If Alex was concieved off the island, how is Ben her father? Did Ben go off the island? Is Ben the biological father or just the only dad Alex knows?

What about the creepy xray reflections on both the recruiter and jules bodies-faces?wasnt it just an indication that its ''on'' everybody,i mean it can be transferred...it was on the wall as an xray but it ''expands'' too.....oh,well,you got it!

Ben adopted Alex and she probably doesn't know any different. I bet they never told her she was kidnapped. What a shocker for her if she ever meets Danielle!

I'm wondering if Ethan et al were going to take Claire's uterus to implant inside someone else. Alex said they were going to take the baby and kill her.

Yeah...I was thinking that as well. Too random of a comment to make about the male field mouse for it not to have some significance. Is it just me, or does Juliet look pregnant herself during the flashback scenes? There was one shot where they focus on her hands clenching over her belly...maybe just to show that she's upset, but she seemed to have a slight bulge...like she was just starting to show.


I totally thought Juliet looked pregnant during the FB. As far as the age acceleration thing goes maybe that is the case and the injections keep you from aging too quickly.

I totally thought Juliet looked pregnant during the FB.

Now that you mention it, I remember thinking the same thing. She was wearing a white shirt and the kept the camera on her stomach area for a while as she was turning. I remember thinking that she looked like she was in early stage of pregnancy.

Hmmmmm.

I totally thought Juliet looked pregnant during the FB. . I agree - she was cradling her stomach with her hands and the camera devoted several seconds of just that.

If Juliet was pregnant, don't you think she would have just used that as her excuse not to go and do 6 months of research with the Mittelos people? I really doubt she was pregnant during her flashbacks. Who's the father? Where is the toddler now? Just not the case in my mind.

Just playing devil's advocate here... If Juliet was pregnant, don't you think she would have just used that as her excuse not to go and do 6 months of research with the Mittelos people?Actually she might have entertained a move to a nice place like Portland to get away from her evil husband. But ultimately it looks like she didn't have much of a choice in the matter anyway.
I really doubt she was pregnant during her flashbacks. Who's the father? Maybe her ex-husband

Where is the toddler now? The others seem to have a tendency to seperate the children from the adults, so that would be my guess. And it could be the cause of Juliet's breakdown in the first few frames of TOTC...

so does that mean that the drug that Desmond was using was to get Desomnd pregnant? that just seems too far fetched if you ask me.

For those of us who go over with microscopic detail, I remember that we found screen shots of the 'innoculation' bottles. The bottles that Des had were labeled differently from the ones in the screen shots for Clair's stay at the med hatch.
So, maybe Ethan was injecting Claire not to prevent the 'sickness', but rather to prevent her endometrium from aging during pregnancy, which if went unchecked, can cause still birth.
This also leads me to believe that Desmond, who I am sure has had psychic powers well before ever getting to the Island, knew something of this, and that's why he stopped Claire from administering the 'hatch version shot' to the baby.
The proof of Des' fore sight is in his hatch painting, btw.
100%
Really interesting - disturbing - but interesting...

If you could put a 70 y/o woman's uterus in a 26 y/o's body so a woman could have a baby in her 70's, or if you transplanted (and they are doing that right now...) a uterus to a woman who doesn't have one - say a woman who lost hers to cancer or was born w/o one and you have a 70 y/o woman die and donate organs/tissue/etc. the 26 y /o could use the donar's uterus to have a baby...

This is all going to come down to playing God and if we should or if we shouldn't.

I think you are misunderstanding the situation. The subject in the mri has a prematurely aging uterus. Usually this happens to a young woman who has been subjected to severe environmental insults, such as radiation exposure, repeated clinical abortion, severe std infection that has gone untreated for a long time, or very rare metabolic dissorders associated with premature aging. The dude who is selling this to Juliet is suggesting that she could apply her therapy studies, what ever they are to correct the aging process.
Juliet is shown injecting her sister in the area of her abdomen that is close to her left ovary, so this is highly evident that her technique is hormone related. Even the male mouse story attributes to this. A male could theoretically host a viable embreyo with extreme hormone therapy. Just as a woman can have ectopic pregnancies, the embreyo would adhere somewhere inside the abdominal cavity and get its blood supply there. The problem comes along when the embreyo is grows too large and either kills its host because it lached onto an abdominal organ, or withers from lack of sufficient nutrients, or is rejected by the host due to rejection via immunity. ( Like those ladies who are allergic to their own babies.)

Currently, uteral transplants are unsuccessful and likely always will be. The uterus is actually a u shaped muscle and is very vascular. Once it is cut so severely, it usually scars over and dies, if it is not rejected by the recipient first.

A bit OT, but if Juliet arrived on the island 9/6/01 as many have calculated, that marked the first observance of National Stillborn and Infant Loss Remembrance Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stillbirth_Remembrance_Day). Thought that was kind of an interesting tie-in to the fertility topic..

Whoa I can't believe you guys are all talking about thinking she looked pregnant....

I'm super bad about this sort of thing because I have this weird quirk for noticing certain things. Being extra observant I guess to womens' mannerisms? Umm let me say for example I remember the first time I watched Star Wars when Leia comes through Jabba the Hutt's place only we don't know it's her because she's all suited up--I immediately told my siblings "that's Leia!" because of the way she moved, it was very much a woman's walk and specifically Carrie Fisher. The way Juliet "moved" and touched her stomach, well it sort of flashed through my mind "geez she acts like she's pregnant". It helps that I've been with a friend who is about four months pregnant and the way she carried herself when she had just barely begun showing and the way she touched her stomach when she talked about the baby...it just all flashed through my head rather quick like. Isn't it strange we should all think that? I mean I hate to read too much into this show sometimes but for pete's sake if more than one of us thinks it....

ok, would a 26 year old womb look 70 if it had lots of babies?

OK, I'm posting late so I'm sure it's mentioned, but what about ROSE!!!! A older woman with cancer!!!Why and how did they have Roses X-Rays? They wern't sure she was going to end up on the island.

was my question already answered about would a womb look 70 if a 26 year old had lots of babies? like forced to have one consecutively since she was able to? maybe juliet has to study the "Mother" of the island and take care of the one woman that can bare children on the island? like one woman is designated to just have babies forever and juliet has to keep her fertilized. kinda like that short story where that one kid in the basement endures all the pain and suffering while the city outside is a utopia. i forget what it's called or who it's by, but it was weird.

would a womb look 70 if a 26 year old had lots of babies?

Short answer: No.

Interesting comment about Adam and Eve being Ben's parents. Didn't Jack or someone give an estimated time they had been dead based on decomposition of the bodies and their clothes?

Interesting comment about Adam and Eve being Ben's parents. Didn't Jack or someone give an estimated time they had been dead based on decomposition of the bodies and their clothes?

As I remeber it, Jack said something like: based on decomposition, he could not give accurate results without the proper stuff, but 35, maybe 40 years.
But, let's not forget the bag with the backgammon pieces in it, then near the end of season 2, Locke having one of his little fatherly chats with Walt, while teaching backgammon, Locke mentions that archaeologist have found pieces _____years old, and it is one of the oldest games in the world. (Cannot remember how many thousands of years he said, so someone please give answer.)

Regarding Juliet looking pregnant, and having "pregnant" mannerisms: I figured this was more of some comfort eating (from the divorce and her sick sister) and not quite a sympathy pregnancy, but picking up some of the mannerisms. Being a fertility doctor, it wouldn't be surprising if she had picked up mannerisms from pregnant women, and with her sister finally pregnant, she may be having some empathy there. You know what I'm talking about?