NISKAYUNA — The odds were stacked against Andrew Borgman during his first moments of life.

By the time the 7-pound, 7-ounce boy was born via emergency Cesarean section, he had already lost 68 percent of his blood. He came into the world pale, motionless and not breathing.

His mother, Christine Borgman, suffered from vasa praevia, a rare and extremely difficult to diagnose condition that leads to severe fetal bleeding. The condition is rarely detected before birth and carries a 95 percent infant mortality rate at birth.

When labor was induced in Borgman during the ninth month of her pregnancy, Andrew nearly died from the blood he lost inside her womb. As doctors hurriedly delivered him, the staff at Bellevue Woman’s Center jumped into action to resuscitate the boy.

“It was one of the tougher ones,” recalled Carolyn Levine, one of two neonatologists who treated Andrew last year. “He was in pretty dire straits when he was born.”

Much has changed since Andrew’s birth. Today, he’s a rambunctious toddler with rosy cheeks and a full head of blond hair.

Andrew now weighs a healthy 25 pounds, is agile on his feet and has even begun to speak his first words. And when staff at Bellevue sang him “Happy Birthday” on Monday — almost one year after the day he nearly died — he flashed a cherub-like smile.

“He’s truly a miracle baby,” said Dr. Peter Stier, the Borgmans’ obstetrician, who credited Bellevue’s staff with rescuing the newborn. “Without all these components, it wouldn’t have happened this way.”

Bellevue reunited the Borgmans with many of the 17 people who helped deliver and care for Andrew after his birth. His parents laughed and hugged the staffers, as they marveled over the now carefree boy.

The Borgmans never suspected any complications when having their first child. Everything leading up to Andrew’s birth suggested the Clifton Park couple would have a smooth delivery.

But things changed quickly after labor was induced. Stier noticed an inordinate amount of blood and quickly ordered an ultrasound.

“[Dr. Stier] had a look on his face where I could tell something was not right,” said Joe Borgman, the boy’s father.

The ultrasound revealed Andrew’s heart-rate to be abnormally slow. Stier then ordered the cesarean, fearing the worst.

Christine Borgman’s heart dropped. She vaguely recalls the moments leading up to her surgery, other than the fear of possibly losing her child.

“I was in shock,” she said.

Levine and fellow neonatologist Maria Fort had the task of getting the boy to breathe. He was given adrenaline and placed on a respirator, then carted to the neonatal intensive care unit, where he was placed on 24-hour surveillance.

“He was covered in tubes, but he looked good to us,” Christine Borgman said. “After all, he was alive.”

Seven hours later, the tubes disappeared. Color flushed back into Andrew’s cheeks as he began breathing on his own.

Soon, he was heading home. Bellevue’s staff is still keeping an eye on Andrew’s development and will for up to two years.

But all signs point to the boy being healthy. His parents said he started walking sometime last month after apparently deciding that crawling simply wasn’t getting him around fast enough.

Lori Metzgar was one of the nurses on call the night Andrew was born and helped assemble the team to care for him afterward. She was amazed to see the once-sickly baby grow to be the robust child he is today.

“It’s emotional,” she confessed. “It’s incredible thing for all of us to see how well he did.”