I find it MUCH easier to get through unpleasant things if there is a specific end time I can count down to.... It really unnerved me, not being able to count down to the end of labor!

I've often thought this: that human beings could probably stand almost anything, as long as they knew the time limit on it. That's why torture is so effective, I suppose: you don't know when it will end (apart from when you give up your information, possibly). If you knew someone was going to pull out one of your fingernails, and only one, you might well be able to stand it (in a good cause, of course). If you just didn't know if your torturer was going to stop at one (or however many, up to eight fingernails, two thumbnails, and twenty toenails), it would be that much harder to bear. If you knew you would only have the water droplet plopping onto your forehead for an hour, you might be able to stand it. It's the not knowing that's the worst....

Mind you, I've been in some pretty damned difficult poses, and even knowing when they would end didn't help me to endure them, so perhaps I'm just talking a load of [throat-clearing-noise] here...!