Braxton hicks or contractions? 34 weeks pregnant

I had period like cramping the other day but it went away after about 2 hours and it wasn't really severe , the baby was also flat out moving.

However today I was washing the dishes and I experienced really bad period like pains and mostly on my left side. Any time I walked they got worse . I had to either sit down or lye down for them to ease. But they still continued , I took low dosage of cocodamol ( my midwife told me to take it as a last resort for pain relief at an antenatal class) and it has eased abit. But I'm worrying . Could this be labour ? They were so sore to the point that I'm in tears.

My bump is not low neither. But earlier on today I also experienced a lot of thick discharge but never thought anything of it as thought maybe it was left over stuff coming out from having sex 2 days ago?