Contractions

I've been told contractions will move downwards, but for the past few hours I've had constant painful "contractions" and sometimes they move from my back around to my front but sometimes they start in my abdomen and move upwards? My stomach is hard as a rock more than it's not. This is so painful but I feel like it can't be labor since it's not moving down??? I'm exhausted but can't sleep between whatever this is.

*Edit. I think it was false labor. It eventually got lighter and lighter until I finally fell asleep. It was pretty miserable for a while. It lasted about four hours, but the contractions were a bit sporadic which is another reason I didn't just call in. Some of them took my breath away, and others didn't so I figured it was false labor.