slow labour?

The past few evenings I've had 'tightenings' - sort of crampy pains that get progressively worse and leave me gasping for breath... Prior to Friday it has been more discomfort when the baby moved, but on Friday I really thought things were happening. I was in bed and getting what I thought were mild contractions every fifteen minutes but they phased out and that was that. On Saturday night from 7pm I was getting pretty regular (every 5-10 minutes) contractions but again mild (but still very uncomfortable) and rang the labour ward. They said to have a bath and paracetamol and ring back in an hour, so I had a bath and a paracetamol, and the pain stopped. I tentatively got into bed thinking that I wouldn't be able to sleep and that we'd be making our way to the hospital by the early hours, but instead I had the best night's sleep I've had since November! Was woken by husband having cramp in his legs after an afternoon of skateboarding at 1am, but went straight back to sleep and slept until 6am.

So is this slow labour? And if so how long will it go on for? How will I know when it is the real thing? Half-term is now over and the baby is obviously not here, so am in a predicament as regards whether my Mum will look after Elizabeth or not. Trying to keep the house organised, the nappies washed, the clothes washed, and keep myself calm while each night having bloody contractions and being overdue is no fun at all!