What are some appropriate practices during pregnancy?

Holy seforim say that a woman’s conduct during pregnancy affects her unborn child.¹ Therefore, the Rebbe encouraged pregnant women to increase their care and attention to matters of Torah and mitzvos. They should also be cautious not to gaze upon improper and unholy sights.²

The pregnancy is kept private and not publicized until entering the fifth month, though close family and friends may be privately told earlier.³ Though there is a tradition from the Baal Shem Tov not to mention the pregnancy in a pan to a Rebbe, the Rebbe writes that one should notify the Rebbe from the beginning.⁴

To various people, the Rebbe advised specific positive practices during this period, such as checking tefillin and mezuzos (especially if they weren’t checked within the year),⁵ and giving tzedaka every morning and before candle lighting,⁶ and sometimes suggested that the husband recite kapitel chof before hamapil in a specific manner.⁷

Some have a custom that during the ninth month of pregnancy, the husband seeks to open the aron kodesh, remove the sifrei Torah for kriah, and then close the aron.⁸ Kabbalistic sources offer spiritual explanations, such as a segula for an easy birth at the right time.⁹ Indeed, the time of pesicha is generally regarded as an especially auspicious time for davening.¹⁰

In a few letters, the Rebbe advised individual husbands to endeavor to follow this custom only if it could be done discreetly without drawing attention.¹¹ However, when the author of Kovetz Minhagim on pregnancy and birth consulted the Rebbe about the custom’s details, the Rebbe deleted the entire custom from the draft, indicating that it’s not intended as a directive for the general public.¹²

See Sources (open PDF)