Up at night with painful contractions

I’m so confused. Been reading about prodomnal labor. I’ve been having contractions sometimes 4-7 min apart for a lil over an hour. I hate trying to track them bc it’s so hard to determine when they stop and start. When should I go to all this trouble? I don’t want to track if it’s not the real thing. Furthermore, My last labor was precipitous meaning rapid so I may not have the time to just “wait and see” I’m told this time.

Other times these painful cramps feel like just that: cramps!