By that I mean, contractions start far apart, getting closer together as things get more progressed?

I found with both of my labours that my contractions started out on top of each other. With my first I was having problems defining where one started & the other ended, though I think that had a lot to do with bub being posterior & having a lot of back pain at the same time. The second time around, I had been in labour for 5 hours, had my doula on the phone convinced I was pretty far along, the hospital convinced & turned out I was only 3cm.

Is it possible that my body just doesn't follow the starts slow & builds up sort of pattern? Has anyone else found the same thing in their labours? How have you coped when it starts from nothing & gets very full on very quickly?