Strong period pains but still no labour. Normal?

So I went to the hospital last night to get checked out to see if I was in labour as from 00:45am I had been having really painful period cramps which paracetamol did not help or make better. After tracking these pains on a contraction app I was having 3/4 cramps lasting over 1 minute long each in a 10 minute period. I also kept feeling the need to go to the toilet but when I sat on the toilet nothing came out.

They did a CTG that showed I was having contractions but when they did an exam they found my outer cervix are only slightly open (enough for a finger tip to get through) and my inner cervix are closed still closed so I was sent home.

I didn't sleep all night because of the pain and frequency, and I'm still having painful cramps now just less frequently. I've managed to sleep for around 3 hours since I got back from the hospital but the pains have been going for 12+ hours now and I don't know if that's normal or not.

I felt like I was being a bit spoken down to at the hospital in a patronising way and found them less than useful last night.

Is this how labour started for others? I'm 41+2 now and have no idea what to expect.

I was just wondering if anyone else experienced these types of pains before going into labour and if so, how long it took to go into active labour?

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It sounds like your in slow labour

I had on and off slow labour from a few random contractions on Fri night had to go in on Saturday and Sunday night 🙈 then baby was born Monday night a few hours after I got there 🙂

I had this, I gave birth at 41+2 and was labouring for 5 days in total. My contractions started on the Wednesday & I gave birth on the Sunday. All I could do was take each day as it come, breathe through the contractions & just sit on the ball as much as I could. Ended up having back labour and as he was my first & it was in my back, my labour lasted as long as it did. I had 10 hours sleep over 5 days, it was hard & it was long. Stay hydrated & keep your food intake up. Hopefully doesn’t last too much longer for you x

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Help

I was getting pretty painful period cramps and during those, I had painful lower back cramps. I had these on and off for like a few hours so from about 10:30pm to 1am?

I’ve had no show, or anything like that.

Is this braxton hicks or early labour pains?

Labour??

I’ve had on/off mild period cramps since 9 last night, very irregular and very mild, but I just had one that woke me up. My waters haven’t gone and nor has my mucous plug… but could this be a sign that it’s close?! I’m 40+3 and desperate to meet her!

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