DS3's birth was much as your midwife has said OP - I had three false starts where I was sure I was in labour but the contractions faded away to nothing. In the end I was induced (gel only) as DS3 was two weeks overcooked. I don't have a link to DS3's birth story in my sig, but its in Birth Stories if you want to have a look. Essentially my waters broke spontaneously approx 4 hours after the gels went in, and DS3 was born less than 45 mins later. I was expecting another sponteaneous arrival around the EDD, like my first two boys, which I soooo didn't get much to my frustration. But while DS3's birth was fast and furious in the end, it was still awesome.

Re: afterbirth pains ... I didn't really get any. TMI alert ... For me, I had major gushes of blood every time I BF'd or DS3 howled for the first couple of weeks, but no pains.