Contractions stopping and starting?

[Rosieposie9]

Currently 40+3 with first baby. I posted yesterday about mucus plug coming away and I'm still getting small amounts of it each time I go to the toilet but I think it's mostly come out already there's been loads of it.

Contractions started last night around 11pm and almost straight away were about 9-10 minutes apart and gradually became more like 7-8 minutes through the night. I didn't sleep at all as they were so painful. By around 4am they were coming 5 minutes apart and I considered we might need to go to the hospital soon. Had another few hours of them coming consistently at 5 minutes apart with some more like 4 minutes. Midwife told me not to come in til they were 3 contractions every 10 minutes so I tried to lay down for a bit as I'd had no sleep and they started to slow down and eventually I fell asleep around 8am and woke every half hour or so with some less painful contractions. Managed to sleep for a few hours and then went for a walk where I probably had one or two painful contractions an hour but nothing more.
They then started up again around 2pm and went back to being every 9 minutes or so, still painful but some longer gaps between them so they are in no way regular and don't seem to be progressing.

How long can I expect contractions to keep coming and going like this? Most of the pain is in my back and doesn't change if I move around or sit/lay down etc. Any words of wisdom? Am I even in labour?

You definitely sound like you're in labour, the interminable early stages! (For me with both deliveries that went on for 3 days, never got closer than 6 mins apart - then they broke my waters and BAM!)
I know it's tough but take some paracetamol, keep moving around - it'll help baby's head keep pressure on your cervix encouraging things to progress. So use your birthing ball or have a walk but make sure there are places you can stop for a rest if needed.
It sounds like things are on the move though, hopefully it won't be too much longer.
Best of luck for a healthy and straight forward delivery and baby!

I had this with ds1.
First midwife was v gentle telling me to rest and save energy for the later stages.
Shift change 2 nd midwife has me climbing up and down stairs.
He was born 2.5 hours later.

It sounds like my first labour. Baby was back to back - hence the back pain. I had 4 days of stop start contractions - officially latent not active labour as I wasn't yet 4 cm dilated.

Most helpful things were a TENS machine (no idea where you'd get one quickly of you don't have one I'm afraid), and someone massaging the painful area on my back with a tennis ball through the contractions. If you have a birthing ball, leaning forwards on it and rocking also helps take some of the pressure off your back. I let DH sleep and found the long nights by myself without any support and with no sense of progress incredibly difficult - if you have support available consider using them!

In my case, it went on for ages - so based on that I'd say make sure you eat and drink enough, and try and get any sleep you can - what got me in the end wasn't the pain, it was the sleep deprivation.

Good luck, fingers crossed yours moves much faster!