Prodromal labor?

36 weeks tomorrow, and i have been having contractions since yesterday evening and ALL day today 😒 not painful per say, just feels like im flexing my abs super hard and cant stop, it burns and makes me short of breath. I went to the doctor yesterday and was 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced, and she said she could feel baby's head. Then just now i went to the bathroom and lost a small part of my mucus plug. Curious if this is just normal "body getting ready for labor" or something more like prodromal labor, just cause these contractions are NOT letting up and they are getting pretty uncomfortable. Almost positive its not real labor though, just cause its not unmanageable pain. This is also my first baby if that makes any difference.