First I advise you manage your partitions from a live CD.

Second, before you start, check fstab and make sure all your partition enteries are by UUID

UUID=dccc7153-df39-4b3c-b707-b42f2e3a5421  /  ext4   errors=remount-ro  0  1

FSTAB will also tell you what partitions are in use. If you need a list of partitions by uuid use

sudo blkid

1) Boot the desktop CD and unmount all your hard drive partitions and swap (you can do this in gparted).

2) Delete any unwanted partitions -> apply changes.

3) Resize your partitions one at at time.

4) Fix your partition table (order) with fdisk

sudo fdisk /dev/sda

At the fdisk prompt type the following commands

# Extra functionality

x



# Fix partition order

f



# Write changes to disk

w



# Quit fdisk

q

Reboot and your partitions should look much better.

Note - You really do not need to "fix" this "problem" , but it will not hurt to fix either.