.........and there are more contractions

This morning I was woken up by nice very painful contractions (at 2 am, I must add). I stayed up till 6:00 having them but not consistently. I slept till 8:00 and Ive had them all day. They are painful and not very fun (but still not consistent). I called my doctor to see if they wanted me to taking my blood thinner and she told me not to. She said I can go to L&D if I want to but if I'm not dilated they will send me home. I am still playing it by ear. iI I get worse I may go just to be checked. What if I am dilated? I dont know. I feel like I dont know anything. This is all very new to me.