W/ my first I had debilitating false labor for 3 nights before going into actual labor. The pains were intense, but stayed 7- 20+ mins apart from 9 PM - 7 AM, then would just stop. I had my husband do physical checks for dilation. I had been @ 2 cm for over a week and there I stayed. The third AM, the pains lessened, but didn’t stop and became more rhythmic in their timing. My husband confirmed things were changing inside. W/i hours my contractions were down to @ 6 mins apart and he could now feel a 2 finger tip width of opening at my cervix. I had an appointment w/ my OBGYN at that time, so we wen in all packed and ready for them to admit us. Had my daughter that evening.
You’ll definitely know
It won’t be to late, when you have really hard pains go, BLM you don’t want to get stuck on the monitor so in comfortable. I say when you can’t walk through a contraction.