The Baby Confuses Me

I am 39 weeks today, and for the past 2 weeks I have been having contractions. Sometimes it is very easy to tell when they are just Braxton Hicks contractions, but there are other times, like last night, when I truly think I am in labor, only to have it stop.
I decided Saturday night, after another time of insisting to myself that I was going into labor, that I won't focus on the contractions anymore, until they are very painful.
That only scares me a little bit, because I see myself waiting until they are on top of each other and I am really hurting, before I call my midwife. And I may end up cutting it close, as far as getting everyone here on time.
I almost called her last night, not because they were on top of each other, but because they were different this time and felt so real and were painful. But since it was 1:30 A.M., I decided to go to sleep, and, well, they stopped.
But for an hour, I had contractions every 4 minutes, that lasted 40 seconds or so. And at the end of each one, it went into my back and hurt. So, now I am certain I'll have back labor with this baby. At one point, I think I even said, "ouch", because the pain it caused in my back, well, it wasn't fun, LOL.
So, I turned the fireplace on downstairs, in the room I will labor in, so that it would get nice and warm down there, and I went to bed. I thought for sure, I'd wake up in pain or my water would break or something. But, here I am, 5.5 hours later, without a contraction in sight.
Everyone says that once you are in labor, you'll know. And I have had 2 kids already, yet one was induced, and the other came after my water broke, and once the contractions hit, they came on pretty forcefully. So, I don't know what it feels like to start out labor with contractions, that end up getting stronger and stronger.
But, I do know, that last night I knew.....I thought I knew....but apparently, I didn't.
And, so, I am left confused.
I did read a great blog the other day, Olive Plants. The writer is a mom of 8, and she has been having these same kind of contractions, like me. So, at least I know that I am not the only one.