Thundasia details her Thunder Over Louisville birth

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The most famous development in the 33-year history of Thunder Over Louisville didn’t involve a firework, a skydiver, or a jet. The most memorable moment, under tons of exploding shells, was the little firecracker born in the middle of the mob.

23 years later, Thundasia Turner agreed to meet to talk about it in the exact spot where her mother lit the fuse on her birth: the parking lot at 8th and Market.

“All I know is when she got right here the first boom went off,” Turner said. “Then the second boom went off. Then the fireworks went off. All she could remember was trying to fight the ambulance from pulling her pants down so she could get to somewhere safe. They told her, ‘Ma’am, the head’s right there, you have to have this baby right here or you’re gonna have a still birth.’”

Mom named her Thundasia.

“Are you good with the name?” I asked.

“Yeah I like it,” she said. “I used to not because it’s like, I gotta explain why I got this name every time. Then I gotta explain how to pronounce it every time. But now that I get older, it’s unique. It’s different. I’m the only one.”

“I understand your dad saw all this, but he didn’t really know what he was looking at, tell me about that,” I said.

“This right here used to be a jail and my dad was in this facility,” Turner said. “He was sitting back there, he was watching everything. He was amazed. He called my granny, he was like, ‘Hey mom, I just seen this lady give birth to a baby on the street.’ She was like, ‘Dude, it was your baby.’”

UofL Hospital has reported as high as a 40% increase in baby deliveries during Thunder. But only one in a parking lot.

“So you think there is something about loud explosives that fire up that baby?” I asked.

“Ha ha making ‘em shoot right out just like I did,” she said.

Turner had her own son three years ago, conventionally, and it renewed her appreciation for what her mom went through.

“I could not imagine,” she said. “I asked for an epidural as soon as I walked in the door. Help me. This hurt.”

“There were no epidurals out here,” I said.

“No, she’s a warrior,” Turner said.

Turner is a working mom now who coaches basketball at Central High School. She said she wants to start an AAU team.

She is surrounded by love, just like she was when she came into the world in a Market Street maternity ward jammed with thousands of people.

“My aunties was there, my cousins was there, my brother and sister was there,” Turner said. “There was people there, my mom wasn’t by herself.”

“So you had a big audience when you came out into the world,” I said.

“I came out as a star,” Thundasia said. “Came out as a star.”

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