My spouse is an older father (older than you will be). He is "young at heart" and healthy* (see below). He does get tired a lot more easily than I do being younger. Once you hit 50, even healthy fit guys slow down a bit. We hummed and hawed at the "have a child when you're so old" issue. He had kids from a previous relationship and loves them dearly, but ours is my only. One thing that we did acknowledge was that with 2 of us, if something happened to him (or to me) at least there would be another to fall back on. And if something should happen to both of us, we have a family member who'd take our child. The other thing is we basically have plenty of money. And as mentioned before, money can buy a lot of things.
That said, here's some things to think about:
- while my spouse was fit, took no meds, exercised regularly and never smoked, he was diagnosed with cancer 2 years ago and had to have surgery and radiation which was debilitating for a 6 month period. I had to do pretty much everything during that period. He is healthy and cancer free now, but we are lucky. Cancer or illness can strike at any time. Have a back up plan. If you were to have a sudden fatal illness, do you have people in place who can take over?
- Retirement/FIRE: I'd like to FIRE and travel in a few years. But my kid is in school. She has friends, hobbies, sports teams, etc. Dragging her off to live in South America would be awesome for me, but might not be so great for her. We do travel a lot and take her to different countries, but I'm not sure how she would do with a nomadic like lifestyle. I know there are several blogs that discuss family/homeschooling abroad when FIRE'd so ... think about it. I think the best might be to be in a stable place in your home country during the year and travel during the summer. At least that would work best for us.
- I think no matter what you decide, you will be looking over the fence wondering "what if". As I said, I'd love to travel, but kids like routine and roots, stability, etc. I love my kiddo more than anything, but sometimes I daydream about being in a tent in Tibet and not worrying about homework or practice or whatever the kid issue of the day is. It definitely wears on you and tires you out. You'll never come first again. And that's ok, but be prepared. When you're sick, you'll still have to take care of the kid first. Nobody to help you. My Mom was a single parent, and quite frankly she hated it and resented me. Being a single parent is one of my worst fears, but as you can see I had a child anyways, knowing inherently it was a possibility. She's definitely worth the risk. Good luck whatever you decide.