<human>: Give me the gist of the text in a nutshell

TX, USA here. At the age of 19, I met a man, 27, in 2008 at work, we became involved and I found myself pregnant after four months of dating him, at the age of 20. We were married while I was pregnant and spent three years together, producing one other child. The relationship fell apart due to differences in many things and abusive behavior on his part. I couldn't stand the thought of my children being raised by a broken woman and I left. I filed for divorce, asked for nothing in the case as he had threatened me with a battle and was very insistent he would get our children and I would be paying HIM. Our 1st child was 2 yrs old and our 2nd was 6 months at the time of the divorce.  They are now 5 (almost 6) and 4. 

Since then I have had the children consistently 4 days a week, with our divorce decree stating once the children are in full time school I will have them at minimum 5/7 days of the week. Things have been amicable but I am beginning to regret not asking for some sort of support as I have lost my job and am having difficulties taking care of our bills. We receive some assistance from the government however my unemployment is maxed out.  I do not want my ex husband to go under, regardless of the awful things he did, I want my children to have a nice home to call their own. Is it selfish of me to want that home to be with me and need assistance to give it to them?   I was laid off recently and am going to school for some training, slated to enter the work force in 03/15 and expect to once again earn an above poverty wage. Do I have a chance at getting some sort of help from him or is it likely he will gain custody?  Obviously I will need to see a lawyer in person about this but I'm looking for an idea of what to expect?
<bot>: made bad choices, married a weirdo and had two children. lost my job, having difficulty providing and rethinking asking for child support. Do I have a chance?