Ummm, not sure why my thread was locked, but I’ll just restart it.
As I said in my last post in the other thread, feel free to keep sharing. It makes me feel better hearing all your stories.
I was one of those who didn’t think I was in labor and showed up at the hospital at 8cm dilted.
I was just not paying attention to my body and not responding to it the way I probably should have and kept saying “eh, probably more [name]Braxton[/name] Hicks”, eventually my mother said “You should probably go to the hospital now” - didn’t take much convincing by that point, I was in quite a bit of pain.
Definitely listen to your body and respond to it the way your OB/Midwife tells you to. It’s better to go in and be sent home than give birth in the car.
I’ve had 4 labors - all completely different. Been sent home from the hospital twice 
Better safe than sorry. With my third, contractions never really started, my water broke and we finally went to the hospital to start antibiotics (almost 12 hours later) and they were taking their time because I wasn’t in any pain - when they finally checked me I was at 8 cm. That was around midnight - the nurses got frantic and rushed around, but she still wasn’t born until 9:30 am! Try not to stress about it - congratulations, I’m sure you’re getting so excited!