Haidh Query - i have trouble with my cycle

Assalamu'alaykum.

I have a little trouble with my cycle... Every few months I have these episodes where I spot blood instead of an actual period. Sometimes it's just spotting (a tiny bit and changes to brown etc) and that's my whole period (lasts about 20 days) then other times I spot for about 10 days and THEN my period comes full on for about another 10 days... 

So it's very confusing for me because I thought that even if you see brown or pink discharge you have to take it as haidh... But then I came across this hadith:

"In addition, there are reported hadiths about referring to the description of blood, like for example, the hadith about Fatimah bint Abi Jahsh, who used to bleed on days other than the normal menstrual periods. Thus, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her, ‘If it is menstrual blood, it is known by its dark color, in which case you must abstain from Prayer. But if it is the other (blood), you must perform ablution and offer Prayer, because it is (the bleeding of) a vein’ (Abu Dawud and An-Nasa’i; Ibn Hibban and Al-Hakim regarded it as authentic)".

So it's very confusing because then am I supposed to count the spotting as haidh and not pray when I can see it's not like a normal period and then pray when it eventually becomes a normal period (because 10 days have passed)? 

Or if I see it's a situation where a normal period comes later then should I not pray when it's a normal period (even though it's been more than 10 days since I saw the spotting) and then just make up for the salah in the days I spotted and didn't pray?

Jzkl khairun for taking the time to answer my question.