Parents See A 'String' Growing From Their Baby's Neck. When Doctors Finally Pull It Out, They Can't Believe Their Eyes

Aaron and Emma Whittington were nervous when they first noticed that their infant daughter had what appeared to be a swollen gland on the side of her neck.

Despite their fears, however, the couple decided to wait and see if the bump on 7-month-old Mya’s neck would go away on its own.

But when they woke up the next morning, the Whittingtons were horrified to find that the swollen red lump had doubled in size.

Once Mya was rushed to the hospital, doctors were stumped by the massive red bump, which seemed to have a pimple forming near the end.

At first, doctors thought the lump might be connected to some kind of infection; but when they tried to drain it, nothing came out.

It wasn’t until several hours later that Aaron and Emma noticed a distinct “string” protruding through Mya’s swollen bump.

"[The pediatrician] threw on gloves and she pulled out a 2-inch feather and she's like, 'It's a feather.' And we're like, 'What do you mean it's a feather?' And she showed us," Aaron told ABC News.As it turns out, Mya had accidentally swallowed a two-inch long feather at some point and it ended up getting caught in her throat.

Her tiny body quickly rejected the feather and tried to heal itself by forcing the foreign object through Mya’s neck.

Aaron and Emma told ABC News that Mya had been fussier than usual lately and kept pulling at her ear, but they assumed their baby girl was either teething or fighting an ear infection.

While Mya’s parents are still stunned that their daughter’s body actually managed to push a whole feather through her neck, they’re just happy that she didn’t need surgery to remove it.