Contraction Confusion FTM

Here’s the run down! It’s the middle of the night and I’m so confused with understanding contractions.

I had the gel inserted yesterday morning and was 1cm dilated and when I went back last night I was having mild contractions roughly 3 minutes apart for about 30 seconds.

Doctor said they wouldn’t give me another gel because I was having contractions but she would do an aggressive stretch and sweep, oh boy she wasn’t kidding it was aggressive! Oh and I was 2.5cm dilated now.

I’ve been continuing to get contractions (stomach tightens very hard and get sever lower abdominal pain) and now at 2:30 am I am getting them every 1-5 minutes for 45 to 60 seconds.

I assumed contractions would start out very spread out but since they’re not, I’m very confused on how to interpret this.

Thank you in advanced for your help.