Biglips It is generally believed that the waters go first and then the contractions start, but this is really too simplistic. In truth, your body does all kinds of things to gear up for labour, sometimes they are noticeable, and sometimes they are not depending on the position of the baby and the woman.
For this reason, it is also a bit of a contentious issue of when the beginning of labour 'actually' is. Why aren't BH's just very early labour for example?
However, it is likely, that once your waters have broken, the head pressing on the cervix causes more painful and more productive contractions. Waters NOT breaking CAN mean that the baby's head is cushioned and therefore do not cause the same level of pain and productivity. Sometimes this will mean that the woman is in labour for a long time, but not painful, and may not even notice until nearer the end.
Most women are on a continuum in that they don't notice or believe they are in labour until the waters break and they NOTICE the contractions more iyswim.
Ninja It is very unlikely they HAD to pop your waters, unless the baby was born inside a complete sack. Often they will do it to artificially speed up labour though. Did they give you a reason for it?
Notsoslimnow Leave your nipples alone! Don't interfere with the natural process at this stage UNLESS you have reason to suspect your LO will be born prem (which it's a bit late for now).