Hi Jodie,
Lisa D had some really good experience there in the threads for you to think about. Another person that may be of interest for you to talk to is Linda Powell, the current President. She has two children with CAH, the second being female and also had Dexamethasone treatment during pregnancy. (Her email is on the back of your newsletter).
I think it is important to realise that there are always side-effects of medications for people that are taking it as additional to their body's needs to treat a condition, in this case if you are taking Dex to treat a child inutero. These may be minor or more severe and vary from person to person. Dexamethasone, as Lisa pointed out, also requires weaning, in that you cannot just stop taking it without physical consequences, and it all needs to be done slowly. This is also very important to know if you continue medication throughout pregnancy and delivery (as if on Dex at time of delivery you may need to investigate if extra is required) and weaning is still required if taken up to the time of the birth of your child.
A very big thing to be aware of that many doctors may not mention very loudly is that the consequences of taking Dexamethasone and treating an affected child also vary and that there may still be some signs of virilisation present at birth, just not as bad as may have presented without the medication. Unfortunately, there is still no absolute cure, some babies will respond to the medication to a greater degree than others.
The important thing is for you to be fully informed in order to make decisions that you are happy to make rather than feeling forced into situations out of your control. Genetic testing and getting as much information as possible before actually falling pregnant will help to make the whole situation much less stressful.
I wish you well.
