Can someone describe contractions to me?

I literally have no idea, I’ll be guessing the same as you, but I saw a video of a woman who was trying to explain whilst haven’t them and she showed that her entire stomach went incredibly hard, like a proper muscle cramp

They’re very hard to explain but you will just know. They take your breath away and you can’t speak through them x

To me it was literally period pain
Obviously much worse but the exact same pain!

Like others have said it’s can start as a mild period pain that gets more intense to the point you can no longer concentrate on anything else and that’s when you know it’s hospital time! I was also vomiting a lot at this point and throughout the labour itself but not everyone does this so just my experience with my first. I’m currently 40 weeks pregnant with my second and I’ve heard the intensity happens much quicker so that’ll be fun! 😜

I wouldn't go in to hospital for early labour anyway, even if it is far away, they'll just send you home and it will be horribly disappointing! This sounds to me more like practice labour, and unfortunately that can go on for days or even weeks. I've been having irregular contractions every day for about 3 weeks now, every night they become super regular and then they stop and don't come to anything. So I would advise waiting until they are unmistakable and strong and regular. You will 100% know if you're in labour, any doubts and it's probably just your body warming up. Contractions probably feel a bit different for everyone but generally at the start they feel like strong period pains that build into a peak/surge and then tail off, then you'll have a noticeable break in between before the pain builds again. You may also notice a tightening sensation and sometimes the pain can be in your lower back.