Am I having contractions..? FTM

So I’ve been getting what feels like period cramps and wraps around to my back. When it happens it’s for about 30 seconds to a minute. It feels tight but my stomach doesn’t get hard. This has been happening since this morning. I’m just wondering if you can have contractions without tightening? My hips and lower back have been hurting for about a week which has been kinda new for me.

Also did anyone have more pain on one side when contractions happened?