Are these contractions?

I’m 36+5, for the last 20-30 minutes I’ve been having sharp menstrual cramp type pain… I’m not sure how to time them because it doesn’t really go away, but it’s pretty painful in my lower abdomen/pelvis with a lot of pressure down there… I’m laying in my recliner and it hurts to sit up to try and get out of the chair and it makes me a little nauseous when the cramping gets worse. Seems like a stupid question to ask, but I never went into labor on my own with my first and I didn’t feel contractions with him until I was induced so I knew what it was at that point 🤣

Edit: also having lower back pain