Sally, I'm at the same stage as you with getting nice and familiar with the early pains - massively sore pelvis and everytime the baby moves there it makes me gasp with pain and feel completely sea sick - also sessions of period like pains over the last week or so. I'm fairly sure that we'll recognise contractions by their intensity when they happen. Still, it's really difficult to know the difference when you haven't felt any contractions before, and I've stopped describing the niggly pains to my DH because he gets a bit panicky. I figure if the pain gets so intense that I can't bite my lip and not mention it - chances are it's a real contraction. ;-)