Long story short after an NST i was admitted to the hospital because I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes showing up on the monitors lasting between 30-45 seconds. They checked my cervix and I was about 1cm dilated. The contractions continued until late that night (started at 8:12am. Ended at around 1:40am.) Or rather they slowed down and became less regular ranging from having one every 6minutes to not having any for about an hour and anywhere in between. They were uncomfortable to say the least, mildly painful. Enough that I was feeling them and couldn't just "ignore" them but wasn't near the point where I couldn't talk through them or focus on something else at the same time.

Anyways, they let me go at about 8:40 the next morning after I'd dropped to a couple an hour that weren't as strong as previous ones. My cervix was still at 1cm when I left. Now I've been having these irregular contractions on and off since I left the hospital (left Thursday morning, it's Sunday now) and I'm terrified I could be dilating more because of the contractions and not know. My cervix is incredibly tender when baby pushes on it, and I almost get sharp pains when she does. I've noticed mucous too in my underwear. I know checking yourself at home isn't advised but did anyone have any symptoms when they dilated? I'm only 33 weeks tomorrow so obviously I want her to stay in at least another 4 weeks minimum. They had no explanation for the contractions at the hospital. Baby does fine with them, she's not stressed, but I'm worried I'll dilate early. I was 3cm at 37weeks when I was induced with my son and having mini contractions before they even started the induction process so they said he would have come early either way so I'm worried about this one coming early too.