[Gaubius' description of the first parturition of Wilhelmina of Prussia in 1769; 'The unlucky birth of the princess mijne gemaelinne'].

In the archives of the Dutch royal family there is a hitherto unknown report of a childbirth by the Leiden court physician Prof. H.D. Gaubius, in which he provides a detailed description, in French, of the first, prolonged and unfortunate parturition, in 1769, of Wilhelmina of Prussia, the wife of the hereditary stadholder Willem V. There was apparently a discrepancy between the presenting head and the size of the birth canal. Initially, an expectant policy was followed in the hope that the natural course of events would prevail, but ultimately and after due consideration it was decided to terminate the expulsion by means of a Van Roonhuysen lever, the vectis; this procedure was carried out by the Amsterdam obstetrician Albertus Titsingh. It turned out that the infant had died during delivery. Following the spontaneous delivery of the placenta, the puerperium proceeded without complications.