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I had weeks of false labour. I knew, because it started and stopped. Movement made it worse, rest made it better.
When I was in real labour, nothing I did made it better or worse. The contractions kept getting longer, stronger and closer together (or, at least they didn't get shorter or easier to deal with). They were also more intense - a different sort of contraction.

I don't know if I can help but for me, the BH stopped when I walked around and my first real contraction was very sharp and very different from BH. Good luck!

@Danizaur: Keep timing, just to see. I'm looking back at my contraction timer now - my nights of false labour (different than my BH contractions) were consistently 6 minutes apart and about 30 sec. long.

Good luck - hope they either subside and let you get some rest, or get 'real' and make some progress!

Yeah timing them was a sure sign. I had false labour and the contractions would get 5 mins apart then slow down. Real labour they got more and more intense to the point it would stop me in my tracks and I couldnt talk.

I waited until I could tell the difference, for sure! At that point my contraction were 5 minutes apart and continuing to get more intense. I still didnt want to believe it was real but there was no denying the pattern.

I had painful false labor for weeks!! When I was 37 weeks, I had REGULAR, painful contractions for 16 hours. even that was a false alarm! It was awful.

When I was in real labor, I just knew. It was a completely different kind of pain. Although the contractions I had before were painful, they were nothing like the real deal. Also, I had a ton of discharge and pressure. The day before I went into labor, I went #2 like 10 times....

I know I read this a bunch at the time and thought, "Ugh, that's so not helpful!" ...but when it was real labor, I absolutely knew it without a doubt. The level of pain was not at all comparable to the mild pain and discomfort of my braxton hicks.

@Danizaur: its so frustrating I know! But DH's grandma who had 8 kids said all the pregnacies that had false labour made actual L&D easier. I believe it too.

My Dr's description on how to know was "when your bent over supporting yourself on something and saying oh shit oh shit oh shit" because of the pain then that's how you know. As stupid as that sounds that is pretty much exactly how it went for me.

I know this is no help, but you will know. I had a lot of false labor with A and now with this one even having a ton of BH. Once my real contractions started I was like "omg ok this is way different and this HURTS"....when you have to stop what you are doing that should be a good indicator.

@Lindsay05: I don't. Despite my false labor and tons of Braxton hicks, I was in labor over 24 hours and only got up to 3cm during all that time!

OP, do you ever have really bad period cramps? Like where it just takes over your body and you have to momentarily stop what you're doing until it passes? That is what early labor felt like for me.

@wonderstruck: lol oh crap that sucks

@Lindsay05: Sorry, I hate to be the mom with the scary labor story - I know I hated that during my pregnancy, sometimes it just spills out. Hopefully for you guys my body is just stubborn and my experience isn't normal.

I was wondering this exact thing at the end of my pregnancy. I had early labor/Braxton hicks for over a week before my induction. For me the BH were less consistent. Sometimes BH contractions were super painful, sometimes mild. Sometimes they lasted 30 seconds, sometimes 2 minutes. Real contractions had the same approximate pai level and time duration.

I was going to say what @wonderstruck: said. It felt like bad period cramps, not just uncomfortable pressure like the Braxton-Hicks.

When the Pitocin kicked in during my induction lol

I had BH from about 30 weeks on... When it was real labour it was WAY more intense and kept me up all night. I could walk/talk through BH contractions. With real labour there were few contractions that I didn't really have to focus to breathe thru.

Good luck!!!

When my water broke in a movie-style gush.