Photos missing from phone and not in drive/cloud

I have and pay for extra storage on iDrive. This morning, I turned on iCloud photo library and close to 300 pictures disappeared from the photo library on my phone. I assumed they went to the drive, yet when I check the drive, there is nothing there. Also, when I look at my phone, under icloud photo library, I have a message that 128 items are uploading, yet nothing shows in drive or on the cloud. How do I retrieve my pictures that disappeared and from here on out, will my pictures automatically go to the drive, where I pay for extra storage with the intent on keeping my pictures safe?