Advice please!

So I was in labor for 22 hours with my son.

You would think I would remember what the heck it feels like.

I remember for a lot of it, it wasnt painful, just uncomfortable until the last couple hours where I had back labor.

So for the last week my bh have been increasing. I have definitely dropped. This is my third so I remember this part haha.

Today it has increased ten fold. I haven’t timed them because they havent seemed consistent enough. I decided to time one just a few min ago and it literally lasted almost 2 1/2 min.

I’ve been doing my best to make sure I’m not dehydrated. And I think I have an irritable uterus (the top part of my stomach is constantly sore and after bh it’s sorer for a bit.)

How do you know when your bh isn’t false labor and they have become real contractions??

Thanks in advance!