i'm starting to think that i should just stick with four transistors.
I think you should because you can't have all 4 on at once with this chip, see:-
http://www.thebox.myzen.co.uk/Tutorial/Power_Examples.html
is there a way to prevent power dissipation?
No but you can minimise it by having a component that does not drop as much voltage when it is on. A good logic level FET will not dissipate as much power.