Contractions

I woke up last night with cramping and pains from my lower back and thighs. I really thought I was going to give birth. The pain was going on every 8 minutes. I got so scared. I prayed so hard that I won't give birth yet because my girls are sick and Rico's not home yet. Plus I'm not even registered at the hospital yet and my hospital bag and the baby's bag aren't ready. I kept on walking just to ease the pain but it wasn't subsiding so I got really scared so I started timing it until maybe I fell asleep. I woke up without the pain but this afternoon the pain started again....ahhhh I don't know if this is contraction or just my uterus and cervix stretching...hopefully I'll get my answer on Wednesday because I have an appointment that day.