Need advice ! Please please don’t scroll past!

So yesterday I was leaking clear liquid all day and the day before so I went in and got a NST done and pretty much everything with baby is perfectly fine and healthy and doc says I wasn’t leaking amniotic fluid so they sent me home. Well last night I woke up to awful contractions, and they’ve been at it non stop. Like since 5/6am. It feels like my back is literally breaking with every one but MIL says that if I was actually in labour I wouldn’t be able to bear it, it’d be the worst pain I’ve ever felt, and I’m probably just being a baby apparently. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to go to L&D just to get sent home or have the contractions stop the second I get there, but I also don’t want to just ignore it if it is actually early stages of labour? I don’t know what to do. Also I was 3cm 80%effaced last i was checked, like 4 days ago. And the previous appointments I was 2cm and 50/70% effaced. I don’t know if that means anything or maybe I could be more dilated idk I just need some help. Feel like I’m going crazy.