Ok...this is what happened to me..I recently went to India in June 2003 and returned in July 2003. Before leaving my attorney filed for my EAD and AP extensions. My EAD got approved after I returned and AP still is pending.
I believe as long as you have one VALID document to enter you are fine. You dont have to worry about H1/H4 and all that. You can still put them for renewal and leave if you want to. You need not stay in the country while these are under process. In 2001, I went to India for a month and just before I left, my attorney filed for my H1 extension. My first H1 ws valid til May 25th 2001 and I returned to USA on April 15th 2001. My second H1 was approved on April 27th 2001. So as I was saying, you can have thing under renewal here while you leave USA but all you need is a valid document to re-enter.
They key thing is you should enter before the valid re-entry permit expires.
I would still suggest to renew ur H1 as for some reason (later in the process) if your 485 gets denied, you still can have ur H1 valid for some years and work on that while you fight BCIS. Anyways, I dont know if this is what you are looking for. But on my previous trips outside US, I had H1,EAD,AP renewals under process and I still returned with my old H1 and APs.
Ask if you have any other questions.
Madhav