Is it possible to have lower abdominal contractions & not the whole belly?

I’ve been having a lot of contractions in my lower abdominal area. They’re associated with pain but the pain isn’t getting any worse. I’ve been tracking them and they’re usually like every 7 or 8 mins apart. So not bad but the fact that it’s only happening in my lower abdominal area is weird for me because this has never happened to me before with my other pregnancies. Also, I went to get checked and the monitors weren’t picking up any contractions at all, which is frustrating because I know I was having them. I asked if they can adjust the monitor thing lower on my belly and she said they prefer to keep them on top of the belly. I was eventually sent home after half an hour.