Getting worse/MORE CHATTER with practiced meditation? Any advice?

For the past 2-3 weeks, I started to do Vipassana meditation, literally just me focusing on my breath. I started this because in my other guided meditations, I don't have concentration & the mind chatter is endless. I felt like I was not getting the benefit of meditating or even being present.

I usually do 30-45 min of Vipassana/focusing on breath, but I've noticed that as the meditation goes on, i get less focused. Granted, I did recently started this a few weeks ago, but I thought I would at the least, make minimal progress, not get worse. The mind chatter if anything is increasing. After my meditation, I don't feel more present or even slightly more calm

I also noticed that instead of observing my thoughts, im getting lost IN them. Like, when the thought train leaves, I am not aware of breath. When I realize im lost in thought, i pull my attention back to the breath. But, im finding it hard to NOTICE the thoughts and let them pass/observe them while maintaining attention on the breath. Instead, im going down with them. I havent been able to notice or observe my thoughts because they pull me in - even less than seconds after refocusing on breath! I always go into them. How do you observe them instead? Have you gotten worse before you got better?