The joy of contractions

This is my third pregnancy and I have never experienced contractions til this one. I get them often and almost daily and usually they aren't extremely painful but they do make me stop doing what I'm doing just to breathe. I'm getting nervous because if these early practice contractions are like this for me, how will it feel when I go into actual labor? I want to try it pain free I just hope I can cope well. My first was vaginal and my second was a c section so I want to try a VBAC... I hope I can do it! I just made it to 31 weeks...