Pre term labour .. signs?

[ThisIsActuallyHappening]

This is going to seem like a silly question but something I have been musing on and wondered if anyone can advise

I am currently 23 weeks pregnant and have been warned that for various reasons, I am at a higher risk of going in to pre term labour.

So having never had a baby before ... how will I know?!

Midwife told me that at an early gestation, I won't get the "gush" of the waters, if they even do go. I suppose you get contractions still though, but how do you tell the difference between these and say Braxton Hicks?

I should also add, that baby is due to be born via c section for medical reasons and so if I do go into premature labour, I would need to act fairly sharpish to ensure baby is delivery by EMCS and not naturally!

I went into (late) preterm labour at 35+1. My first sign was waters going. Sounds like things may be different at a much earlier gestation though. Hope your little one hangs on in there for a good while yet x.

I went into labour at 33 weeks, I was getting gentle waves of period like cramp but no more than I'd got through the rest of the pregnancy and no worse than period pain.

After two days I then started getting brown discharge and a large glob of mucus, it then changed to pink red blood. Pain was getting worse (I was now vomiting) and more regular but as it came and went I hadn't put 2 & 2 together, I had an hour's nap, I phoned hospital twice and was told that it was just because I had sex two days before.

Phoned the MW who said to go in because of the fresh blood, so I phoned hospital and demanded to be seen and I gave birth within 2 hours.

My waters has to be broken for me.

I went into labour at 34 weeks

I had occasional cramps for a couple of days, but didn't think much of them. Ditto the stronger braxton Hicks I'd had for the previous few days.

My waters started to drip, but I thought that I was becoming incontinent, as my bump had only just dropped and I was getting used to the pressure being in a different place. They didn't stop, though, and I realised that the liquid running down my leg didn't smell like wee (no one tells you amniotic fluid smells like cum...)

I also started getting regular cramps, so took myself to hospital as a precaution. They tested the liquid and confirmed in was amniotic fluid; hooked me up to a monitor and measured the contractions. Because I wasn't yet dilated, we were able to stop labour and give me steroid jabs and antibiotics so I could hold on for another week

I went into labour at 27 weeks. I'd felt uncomfortable tightenings in my stomach from 9pm Fri night which carried out throughout the night. I assumed they were Braxton Hicks as they were uncomfortable, rather than painful. I had a dull ache in my lower back, like period pains. At 6am Sat morning they were only a couple of minutes apart so I phoned the hospital who said BH aren't regular so to come in to be checked out. It turned out I was 2 cm dilated and they said baby would come that weekend so kept me in. Everything seemed to slow down then until around 7pm when I threw up then started passing out (turns out I'd haemorrhaged). They started preparing me for a section but I woke up and started pushing. My waters only broke then. I was only really in pain for the last 10 mins or so, not at all how I expected labour to be.