"accurate I&O does not always tell
you how much is being retained especially if any to the fetus."

"what is not out there yet is [literature to discuss] the affect on the fetus"

Dear Ann -- These are parts of the questions I thought I was asking -- we know what is going on with mom, we don't know how this relates to the fetus, and whether this adds to his birthweight or not.  At this point, it is a lot of conjecture.  And as always, I am pointing out that we have to look at a lot of other variables as well, for instance: does the 4+ proteinuria, pitting edema mom deliver a baby that is waterlogged?  does gestational age affect the amount of waterweight on the baby?  If the amount of waterweight in baby does correlate to moms IV fluids and medications, is it dose related, is it duration related?  (Does pit cross the placenta? and cause the baby to retain fluids)?  Are there things going on with the baby that make him more predisposed to hoarding water, besides moms meds in the last 3 or 30 hours of his life? 

1) yes, pit can cause of fluid retention, but it doesn't always; 
2) moms getting boluses for epidurals (even though this is prophylactic of dropping blood pressure) usually still pee off what was given, and very little of this gets third-spaced, or it would be self-defeating to give the bolus;  You want it to stay in the blood stream to help maintain the BP.
3) pre-eclamptic moms are usually hemoconcentrated, as a result of fluid 
leaking between the tissues, hopefully with Mag it comes back into the 
circulatory system. 

If baby is losing a lot of weight due to being edematous, isn't the weight lost
 by voiding and insensitive water loss.  And do we want/need to replace it?

Finally, I see some new questions, if there is weight loss due to water 
loss.  If we are looking at weight loss in general, is the amount of weight 
loss due to water significant?  Does it mean the difference, say between 3 
% which the baby might lose due to metabolism and the increased 
demands on his energy stores,  which becomes 5% because of the 
shedding of water?  Or does it mean that the 3% becomes 8%.  And if the 
baby is shedding waterweight, wouldn't we want to see a higher % of 
weightloss, since this is "false weight?"   

Does anyone have the "real" answers to any of this yet, as opposed to 
each of us trying to make reasonable extrapolations from what we know to what we don't?

Sincerely,  Chanita