38 wks...contractions....Should I stay or should I go? 10 PTS wanna lot of answers?

From 7:30 PM to 9:15 PM I was having contractions every 3-4 minutes and they were getting worse each time... I called the doctor and she said since I was just checked at the docs the day before and I was only 50% effaced and 1cm dialted to wait about another hour and see if they continued to stay regular and get more intense... so I waited an hour and only had 4 contractions and decided not to head in... but another hour has ped now and I have had 5 contractions and there not regular or intense now. so basically Im really confused as to weather i should just drop everything and go in and get checked or just wait and go to bed and see if they get worse and more persistent through the night? Oh and I dont know if this matters or not but when I stand up they happen more and the pressure is very heavy when i stand. IDK ..... so basically to sum it up they were regular and intense 3-4 min apart for an hour and a half and then within the past two hours ive had 9 which were all very irregular and not intense...whadda ya think? My feelings are that I should just head to bed and get some rest and if they wake me and get regular then I go in to the hospital. but my mother in law said i should just go in and get checked. But id hate to make a trip for false labor if it is that and I would hate to waste there time as well please give me your thoughts