Early First Stage Labor 11/2/15 02:47 I'm either tripping or these are real contractions. I don't actually like the word contractions because throughout the last trimester I started to get tightening of the uterus. They were real, but they were not like these: painful. I decided not to time anything because of the last few false alarms I had over the last few weeks. They actually weren't false alarms if I knew that real contractions start off as painful period cramps. I was under the impression that labor starts off as tightening then builds up to pain in later stages. For pain relief I'm doing fine with breathing, using Arlinton as a heating pad, and trying not to freak out. I'm distracting myself by trying to sleep. I know it's very early labor because it's very tolerable and I have a good feeling at the end of each contraction; almost like refreshing goosebumps. 11/2/15 16:01 It's been about 14 hours later and