I would say that even if hydrocrortisone DID cross the placenta, it is 80 times less potent than dex and therefore not quyite as damaging.

During my pregnancy I had to take respocort due to asthma, but no one made a big deal about that I think because it was probably very important that I take my inhaler than risk an asthma attack and have it affect the baby. Although there may be affects, when you taking very large doses of dex and they do not know exactly what amount is crossing the placenta, it seems to me that there could be a much higher risk of side effects than if one weretaking hydrocortisone, which it seems is not quite as strong and that only minimal traces cross over?

There must be some reason that they use dex anyway--I’m sure if they could use hct they would, because it has mineralcorticoids whereas dex does not and surely that would be good for a child that not only lacks cortisol but also possibly lacks the ability to make aldosterone???

I guess though all they are really interested in is the androgenic effects on genital tissue but I have always placed my childs educational abilities as a priority above appearance and this seems to be one good reason NOT to take dex if you want to justify why you are not taking it as a pregnant Mum.