bleeding at 39 weeks (No pic)

I'm 39 weeks today. I went to the bathroom and saw bright red spotting when I wiped. I went back to the bathroom about 10 minutes later and there's still so much when I wipe. It's like a light period. There's no mucus with it and I haven't had any cervix checks or sex recently. I phoned the midwife and she wants me to wait an hour and call back. My nerves are so bad right now! Has anybody else experienced this? What happened?