My Friend, Who Lives In Florida, Is 28 Weeks Pregnant

My friend, who lives in Florida, is 28 weeks pregnant with her fifth child. She has never experienced the following symptoms before with her other pregnancies and is quite concerned: she is having extremely painful contractions since this morning, but hours apart. Her nurse said to monitor the contractions, and so far they're too far apart to go to the hospital. The contractions are so painful she is vomiting and has diarrhea.