jgal,

The best time to bd is obviously when you notice signs that you may be about to ovulate or have just ovulated. When charting, the more history you have on your cycles the better, as you can see what your own body does, however normally when you ovulate, your chart will pick up a temp jump which must remain at that higher level for at least three days to detect ovulation. If you're charting for the first time and don't have that history to go by, you may miss ovulation, as by the time you've had three days of high temps, it may be too late to 'catch' the egg. You only have a small window of opportunity as the egg dies before 48 hours - so as soon as you think you may be about to ovulate or if you think you have, BD, BD and BD!!!

This is why it is important to monitor other fertility signs to help recognise this small window of opportunity. For me, I hadn't had a proper cycle due to breastfeeding and didn't think I was at all fertile, I had only had a light one day period for the first time since birth. The only reason I decided to try and chart was because about a week or so later I noticed EWCM, which is often found very close to ovulation (but can sometimes occur at other times). I also realised that the consistency of my cervical fluid that month was as I had read about, going through the various stages of what is considered 'normal' (if anything ever is!), so I had a very good idea that I was indeed fertile.

As soon as I saw that EWCM I began BD'ing, I also started using OPK's straight away to see if I could detect a LH surge (which is found 24-48 hours before ovulation). It took three days of OPK's before I finally had a really dark line, darker than any other I had seen, so I made sure I BD'd then too. I think all up, we BD'd three times, which was every second day since the EWCM. The rest is history!

Good luck, I truly believe in charting and think that it is a great, valuable tool to achieving a pregnancy, quicker. You can also use it to detect any problems there might be, for example if you are not ovulating, it may show on the chart based on your entries. So a great record to show your Ob / doctor if you look for further help.

*Baby Dust*