1. No special diet that I followed. I have heard of some diets though <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www3.fertilethoughts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123317">http://www3.fertilethoughts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123317</a> (start with the last page from the bottom, then the previous page from the bottom). I didn't do any special diet though.
2. I had read some research on accupuncture (of all things) increasing the successes of IVF, there have actually been case studies done. I didn't have the finances to do weeks before and weeks after the IVF but the study showed that accupuncture immediately before and immediately after the IVF was what they did the study on. So, I forked over money we didn't have for accupuncture. Massages do NOTHING for me so I was really skeptical about accupuncture doing anything. A bunch of hokey pokey if you would have asked me a month ago. I could NOT have been more wrong! It was absoultely relaxing, well worth the time and money. and the accupuncture immediately after was very relaxing as well. If you do accupuncture, ask you IVF clinic if they recommend someon though. You want someone who know's fertility pinpoints, not just general relaxing accupuncute. Call me crazy but I think it REALLY HELPED.
Also, my doctors told me to just stay laying down (this helps with implantation which occurs within the next few days) as to not dislodge the embryos from where they placed them. I was only instructed to stay laying down and off my feet for the day of the procedure. I was told I could return to work the next day. I decided though, for as much as we were paying for the procedure, I was going to take the next day off too and stay on the couch. I think that might of helped too, but there are ot studies to prove that bed rest post transfer helps. And each clinic is different, some have patients stay in bed for 1-2 days where other clinics say just the day of the transfer. I think you should do whatever makes YOU the most comfortable.
3. Here's a link to my clinics success rates for last year <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.nwreprosci.com/success/index.php">http://www.nwreprosci.com/success/index.php</a>, it's a lot of information and the percentages differ based on age so it's just easier to post the link than try to write out all the percentages. My age group is around 79%.
4. Yes, age does affect IVF success rates. It has to do with sperm and egg quality as you age. This is evident in the aforementioned success rates.
5. Sometimes, success rates for male infertility (i.e. CF) is higher because a majority of reproductive problems are linked to the woman with either egg production or quality problems, implantation complications, and that can affect and entire pregnancy, not solely fertilization. With Male problems, if the IVF gets a good fertilization (even if only 1-2 embryos are "good" quality) the success rate for those implanting in a woman with NO [known] fertility problems is a LOT higher than for a lot of good embryos implanting in a woman when the woman has fertility problems, implantation problems, rejection problems.... I hope that makes sense.
Also, my accupuncturist recommend pineapple after the tranfer. Pineapple contains bromeline (spell??) which has been proven to help with implantation. The directions were, buy an organic pineapple (organic, couldn't find one of those, so I just bought a regular old guy) and cut it into 5 pieces, INCLUDE the Core of the pineapple as it contains the most concentrated amounts of bromeline. Eat 1 piece of pineapple a day, starting the day of the transfer (after the transfer) and eat 1 piece a day for the next 4 days. Did it help me? Nobody will ever know. But it sure didn't hurt anything! I asked why we couldn't use Bromeline pills, the accupuncturist told me that in the pineapple it's in it's most natural form and that's what the studies were based off of.
If you have more questions, I'm happy to answer!
Thanks for the congrats, it's much appreciated!!