@amatt Thanks so much for the response, and yes you are right, I guess I do show signs of doing the same by avoiding conflict from time to time. The tricky thing was that I did detach, or at least I tried to. He got very verbal with me and I felt hurt and alone, so I took a bit of space because I figured maybe I was asking too much of him emotionally. When I did this, it escalated even further to the degree where he just called me every name under the sun and said every painful thing he could say to me. I tried to not react to this or take it personally but I felt very injured by his words, as if they undid the love that I thought we shared somehow. How can words have such power? I know I need to let them go, but the fact is that he said these things and with some conviction. What followed was horrible – blaming and threatening. So this is why I kicked him out. I am taking space as you have suggested and now already he is trying to get back in. There was some sense of sorrow in his last communication, almost an apology of sorts, but I have requested he leave me to have some space so that I do not feel stressed and tired right now for baby and for me.

Thanks for your advice, which I will follow.
As for whether to dance with that particular thorn bush it feels harder to decide not to when carrying his child…but at the moment the jury is out. My instincts at the moment are saying ‘stay away’.

Loved the metta meditation you recommend in another post by the way. Thank you.