this might sound a bit hippy and out there but are you 'holding onto' anything? could there be something that is blocking you? for me, it was total shyness in telling my midwives that i was in labour. i didnt want to inconvenience them (got over that once my waters broke ).

i noticed that my contractions with my second labour really took off each time i was totally relaxed. so when i was reading a book to DD or hanging out the washing or lying in bed doing the crossword puzzle...

i'll second what pretty butterfly has said, this is all doing great work! for me, when 'baby is definitely coming' labour it was fast! all that early labour during the day had brought me straight to transition and bubs was out 1 hour and a half from waters breaking. so nothing is wasted!