It's sounding like it could be the real thing this time. I had AF pains & toilet trips like that on the day I went into labour before the contractions started.

Mine were all over the place whilst in prelabour - at one stage quite regular then they backed off, regular again then backed off. This happened over the afternoon & up til 9pm when things really kicked in and became regular. My contractions never got longer than 30 seconds at home (but were pretty painful, panadeine forte only took the edge off) and I was 6cms when I arrived at hossy at 3am.

Don't worry about getting DH home. He wont mind if it's a false alarm. If it's not a false alarm then you need to be getting all the rest you can. You could always call a friend or relative to come help out if you aren't ready to call DH home yet.