To answer or not to answer? What to do to prevent a nasty court battle?

monpetitechouchou01

I received an email from the father of my future baby. It has been several weeks since I last heard from him and I've been at peace. He wanted to go over what I planned on doing, what type of custody I was seeking, visitation, child support etc. He also said he wanted to do this via email (possibly phone). 

I spoke to someone (this person has some knowledge of family law) who advised me of the following options:

1. Ignore the email. Make it through the rest of my pregnancy drama free and healthy. I was told that ignoring him wasn't going to go against me since his actions on the last day I saw him led me to go to the hospital, were inappropriate and were out of control. I was also told that if I asked him for any help (in his email he asked if I needed anything) the first thing he would do was ask for a paternity test which can't be done until after the pregnancy. 

2. Email him back but perhaps A. obtain a lawyer, B have lawyer read over my emails. Or call him back and attempt to work things out prior to a court battle but with a lawyer.

3. Obtain a restraining order if he became more angry and attempted to be hostile in the future.  I'd need a lawyer for this because we'd have to go to court after 7 days. 

I know that his email wasn't genuine (I hate to sound pessimistic) because the last things he told me were that:

A. he hoped I'd go to hell for ruining his life and keeping the baby.B. I had no choice but to get an abortion (he mentioned this repeatedly and I have written proof). C. That if I had the baby he would take it away from me. I gave him that opportunity and instead he was emotionally abusive and I now have a $1,500 hospital bill to pay. So this very mature and "concerned" email is a huge change and I know it wasn't sent because he wanted to. I'm pretty sure he's obtained a lawyer who advised him it was best to do so. Besides, his main concern in that email was child support and visitation. 

 Can anyone who has gone through this give me some advice? Is there a way to obtain a lawyer without paying such crazy fees? Will not responding to him go against me in court? I told him of my doctor's appointments purposely so that I wouldn't be told that I prevented him from being involved. I knew he wouldn't mistreat me in front of the medical staff since we'd be around others. He didn't show up (thankfully). I truly don't feel like going through long email conversations (and potentially arguments) over the next couple of months. This pregnancy has been tough as it is and I'd really like to, at some point, begin being happy about it. 

Thanks ladies...