Word – How to one convert a Word form to a PDF form while preserving fields

I have a Word source document which I'm using to create a PDF form. The first go-round, everything is fine because I can let Acrobat Pro auto-create all the fields. That feature is actually pretty awesome. However, after spending a bunch of time adjusting field sizes and alignments and formats and so on, I want to edit the source document, and now I'm faced with the prospect of doing all that over again.

Isn't there some way to add the fields in the source document using the Developer ribbon and have those fields be preserved in the conversion to PDF? If not, what other ways are there to avoid this kind of redundant effort?