I'm sure this is probably too late -- I just finished the podcast -- but a fetus can actually grow without a uterus. It's really rare but it's called an abdominal ectopic pregnancy. One of the more strange things I remember from med school.
Usually the placenta will survive if it can attach to tissue with a high blood supply, like the liver. If you google illustrations of abdominal ectopic by a medical illustrator named Netter, you can see what it would look like.