do u *really* understand af's,ovulation,luteal phase....

the website even has pictures!!!

I suggested to another Msnetter to download a year calender off the web and colour in when Af comes etc.
calenders here you can then simply mark things on it. you need to count the days of your whole cycle, not just how long AF lasts
day one of your cycle is the first day of AF, no matter how light it is. I keep posting a good site and will do do again
here This will tell you about charting, CM and other indicators e.g cervix change. This site also has temp charts on it if you were to go down that route
LeahE explainded it all really well

BD two or three times a week throughout your cycle is fine. Do not give any thought to timing intercourse because it mau stress you out and just as importantly could do more harm than good relationship wise.

Women can ovulate earlier, later or not at all in any given cycle even if their periods are regular. Only around 12% of all women have a 28 day cycle and some of them will not ovulate 14 days beforehand. The 14 day thing is just a guide.

Generally speaking you are more likely to be ovulating if your periods are regular in nature (as yours seem to be). You are less likely to be ovulating if periods are irregular in nature.

OPK's are problematic as they work on two misleading principles - namely that women have only one rise in LH (luteinising homrone) every month and that such a rise is immediately followed by ovulation. Both of these statements are certainly not true. The advertising may be persuasive but they are really best avoided.

You can actually get a rise in temp in the second half of your cycle when an egg has not been shed so charting as well is not infallable. If you want to try charting do so but bear in mind that this has problems as a method too. Many docs will not take any notice of such charts primarily because they are so unreliable.

How long have you been ttc for?. The general consensus seems to be that if you're under 35 and have been ttc for 12 months without luck then you should seek medical advice. If you're over 35 and have been ttc for 6 months without luck then again medical advice should be sought.

According to my GP, you usally ovulate around 14 days before the start of your next period - so you would have ovulated on 4/11, 15/12 and 12/1 (or therebouts). The other technical stuff has been very well explained by Leah!

Do you have Toni Weschler's book?

Are you charting anything - basal body temperature, cervical mucus, saliva microscope, cervical position, using OPKs, that kind of thing? Logging your AFs is interesting but doesn't tell you much about when you are ovulating - in your case, it's telling you that your cycles are irregular, which will mean that if you are ovulating every cycle then you're not doing it at the same time each cycle.

Signs you may be about to ovulate:

Egg white cervical mucus - influenced by raised oestrogen levels. Can be easier to spot if you've had a bowel movement (because the pushing pushes it down too). Unfortunately, can easily be confused with semen if you've BD in the last 12-24 hours.

Saliva producing "ferning" patterns if you dry some on a slide and look at it under a microscope.

Your cervix becomes higher, softer, and possibly more open.

You get positive results (test line as dark as or darker than control line) on an OPK.

Signs you may have just ovulated:

Your basal body temperature (which you need to log at the same time every morning if possible, immediately you wake up and before doing anything else) jumps significantly above what it's been for the last 6 days and stays at the new higher level for at least three days.

The luteal phase (time from ovulating to start of next AF) is generally pretty much the same from one cycle to the next (normal range 10-16 days). So if you chart several cycles, identify when you ovulated in each one and establish what your LP is then you will be able to predict when AF is due after you've ovulated in a subsequent cycle.

Some women find that they consistently ovulate on or around the same cycle day, so their cycles tend to be a consistent length and after they've charted a few they can predict roughly when they are going to ovulate in any subsequent cycle. From the brief snippet you've given, it doesn't sound as though yours are like that -- so if you want to identify ovulation then your best bet is either full-on charting or (another popular approach) BDing every other day for a week from when you first notice egg-white cervical mucus (assuming you do).