Pregnancy & Birth

Toni Street’s baby boy is born early via surrogate

'So proud of his mum and so grateful for this gift from our amazing friend.'
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Congratulations to Toni Street and her husband Matt France, whose much longed-for baby boy was born early last night via their surrogate Sophie Braggins.

The baby, who they have named Lachlan Stephen France after Toni’s late brother, was born at North Shore hospital in Auckland.

“Little man has arrived early!” Toni posted to Instagram. “Sophie Braggins was an absolute trooper.. we adore our new son.”

Toni’s husband Matt was also full of praise for Sophie. “This little man will be so loved!” he wrote. “Surrounded by amazing women! So proud of his mum and so grateful for this gift from our amazing friend.”

Sophie posted an image to Instagram of Toni holding her new son for the first time. “The happiness is real,” she captioned the image.

Toni spoke to her The Hits radio co-hosts Sarah Gandy and Sam Wallace this morning, where she revealed the new baby’s name.

“It was just like having both my other two children, it was this pure love moment,” Toni said about when she met her son for the first time, “We’re all doing amazing, it couldn’t have gone any better.”

“When he came out we had two names we’d narrowed it down to. We decided he definitely wasn’t a Noah … and we both looked at him and decided he’s definitely a Lachie!”

Toni and Matt are already parents to two daughters, five-year-old Juliette and three-year-old Mackenzie.

Their journey to third-time parenthood has been well documented. Unable to carry another child due to health reasons, Toni’s best friend of 23 years, Sophie Braggins, offered to be a surrogate for the pair.

“I’d always assumed I’d have three or four children,” Toni told NEXT magazine earlier this year. “I was naïve I guess, but I didn’t have any reason to think it wouldn’t work out like that.”

Toni and Matt with daughters Juliette and Mackenzie.

In 2015 Toni was diagnosed with the extremely rare auto-immune condition Churg-Strauss syndrome. Facing the prospect of having to undergo chemotherapy, which would potentially leave her infertile, Toni underwent IVF treatment to preserve her healthy eggs.

But when she found out the risks of her having another child were too great, she was forced to give up on her dream of having a third child. That’s when Sophie stepped in, offering to carry the baby for them.

Toni and Sophie have been friends for 23 years.

“The way I see it, carrying Toni’s baby is actually just a very simple way for me to help. It wasn’t a hard decision at all,” Sophie said.

Toni is eternally grateful for Sophie’s incredible gift. “I’ve tied myself up in knots over how to ever repay her, but I’ve come to accept it’s not possible. There’s no greater gift than life, is there? All I know is I’ll be forever grateful.”

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