When any excessive accumulation takes place the condition is known as "hydrops " or " dropsy."
In cases in which incompatibility is not identified before birth, the baby suffers recognizable characteristic symptoms such as anemia, hyperbilirubinemia, and hydrops fetalis.
Complications are indicated by high levels of bilirubin in the amniotic fluid or baby's blood or if the ultrasound reveals hydrops fetalis.
Hydrops fetalis-A condition in which a fetus or newborn baby accumulates fluids, causing swollen arms and legs and impaired breathing.
The liquid of ascites sometimes contains chyle in abundance (hydrops lacteus), the escape having taken place from a ruptured receptaculum chyli.