Pre-labour symptoms

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?

How exciting, it sounds like pre-labour for sure. I wouldn't really worry too much at this stage, other than notifying your caregiver.

You don't need to think about timing until you're starting to really concentrate on the contractions...i.e can't sleep, or do anything but be present to the sensation.

I had 18 hrs of prelabour, but some people have it for days.

HTH

i've got an obs appointment 2mrw (soo glad!) so will discuss it further with her... hopefully bubs is ready to come out soon!! :D

It sounds like pre-labour to me.
I agree that there is no need to think about timing your contractions just yet. Try to get as much rest as you can, your baby will be in your arms before you know it