There all different babe! My first started when i just got intlo bed after no indication she was going to arrive, I got almost instant really bad period pains that were bad enough to keep me awake and then my contractions started shortly after, with my second i thought I just had braxton hicks until they gradually went from 20 mins till 5 mins over the course of the day, Ive lost count how many times ive thought its starting this time, well that was up until 2 days ago when I gave up! xxx