hey all - i'm 38 weeks with my first baby and yesterday (monday) i got the bloody show, brownish discharge with streaks of blood. I have never had any sort of spotting throughout my pregnancy so im pretty confident that it was definately the show. when i wipe it alternates between just the brownish discharge on its own and sometimes it is blood streaked. the night before i got the show for the first time, i was experiencing mild menstrual like cramps, and have since been getting them on and off (mostly more uncomfortable at night when trying to sleep), they feel like they are getting more intense but nothing too regular as yet. the pain is mostly on the lower abdominal area and slight back ache too. my question is, are these cramping sensations considered "contractions"? sometimes i notice tightenings like the braxton hicks with the pain at the same time, sometimes no tightenings and just pain. Is it worth timing if these are "contractions"? and do you time from the start of the pain or the start of the tightening feeling? For those that have gone through pregnancy before, how many hrs/days after you got the bloody show before you went into true labour?