Hi Carley

Numbering is very fragile in Word. Reading between the lines, it sounds as
though you may be setting up your numbering schemes from Format > Bullets
and Numbering Outline tab. It's much more reliable to set them up from the
*top level* linked style (including all the linking to lower level styles) -
see http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html for
detailed steps and explanation (article refers to built-in Heading styles,
but using the top level style is even more vital for other styles).

Obviously, you can't link several outline schemes to the same styles. The
best solution for different schemes in different parts of the document is to
set up different styles - if they are otherwise similar you can make things
a bit more organized by using a base set of styles (unnumbered) and using
the 'based on' setting in the style. Don't base one numbered style on
another numbered style.

Hope this is some help