“You could tell that their heads were a little bit malformed,” their mother, Amy Howard, 38, of Center Moriches, said. Courtesy Howard family 
 
 The triplets were conceived without fertility treatments: “I think we just got lucky,” Mike said, recalling that his first reaction at the news was “Holy [expletive]. Kaden is described as the laid back one, Hunter the talker and Jackson is the tough one. “That was my main concern, was it going to cause brain damage, or I was worried about his eye sight, but it all turned out great,” Howard said. Courtesy Stony Brook Medicine 
 
 All three boys were diagnosed with craniosynostosis, which can limit brain growth. Dr. David Chesler, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital who operated on the boys, said he and his team couldn’t find any other reports of triplets all born with craniosynostosis. “Your skull is made up of plates, it’s not a single bone,” Chesler said. Courtesy Howard family 
 
 For the next six to nine months, they must wear orthotic custom-made helmets 23 hours a day to help mold their skulls. “It took them a little bit of time to adjust, but they don’t give me any problems taking them off or putting them back on at all,” Amy said. In January, the Howard triplets — Hunter, Jackson and Kaden — underwent surgery at Stony Brook University Hospital to repair a condition called craniosynostosis, where their skulls did not form properly. Courtesy of The Howard Family 
 
 The couple is still adjusting to life with three boys and three cats. It’s not uncommon, but in triplets it’s extraordinarily rare — only two of them are identical.
– Kaden, Hunter, and Jackson Howard were born newsworthy—the Long Island triplets were conceived without fertility drugs, and Hunter and Jackson are identical while Kaden is fraternal. But not long into their young lives, the happy news took a turn. Their heads became noticeably misshapen. Kaden had a pointy forehead and Jackson and Hunter sported protrusions in the back, reports Today. All three were diagnosed with craniosynostosis, a rare birth defect in which a newborn's skull fuses together early, which can impede brain growth. The triplets, born in October 2016, underwent a set of surgeries at just two months of age in January and are all thriving back at home, apparently not even minding their helmets, which they must wear 23 hours a day for the next six to nine months. “Your skull is made up of plates, it’s not a single bone,” says operating surgeon David Chesler of Stony Brook Children's Hospital. If the plates fuse too early, it can "detrimental to the brain, the vision, the life of the child. It’s not imminently life-threatening, but it can cause real consequences down the road.” It occurs just once in every 2,000 births, but doctors put the odds of it occurring in triplets—particularly a set that isn't identical and thus not prone to the exact same malformations—at one in 500 trillion, reports CBS Local. Mom Amy calls their progress "amazing" and their father, Mike, says that while life with three boys and three cats is "crazy," he "wouldn't change it for the world." They say they'd love to have a girl, but aren't planning to try. "With our luck, we would have another set of triplets," Mike says. (One mom ran a half marathon pushing her triplets in a stroller.)